Habakkuk

Habakkuk’s Lament. Habakkuk wonders how God can use a wicked nation to punish a less wicked one.

Superscription. “Oracle” translates a common word for “burden” (Hb. massa’), but when used in the Prophets it may more specifically signify a prophetic oracle (see Isa. 14:4). Jeremiah 20:9 and Amos 3:8 suggest that once God gives a message, it becomes a “burden” until the prophet announces it. Prophets do not typically use the term “prophet” for themselves, but Habakkuk is called a prophet twice (Hab. 1:1; 3:1), possibly because his message differs significantly from that of most other prophets.

First Cycle. Habakkuk is disappointed that God does not seem to be answering his prayers; but God’s response indicates that, unknown to the prophet, he has already begun answering them.

Habakkuk’s Lament. Habakkuk believes that God is letting sin go unpunished and that therefore there is no justice. A major interpretative decision is whether the source of the wrongdoing in these verses is a foreign power that suppresses faithfulness (Assyrians) or the leaders of Judah who oppress their own people. These notes reflect the second position.

O LORD. Habakkuk uses the covenant name for God, emphasizing the relationship between God and the prophet. how long? This is the common form of the formal complaint (cf. Ps. 13:1, 2). Violence! During much of the latter seventh century B.C., Judah was morally corrupt (with much wrongful violence) and spiritually apostate. The description of Josiah’s reforms underscores the depths of the people’s depravity (2 Kings 23).

idly look at wrong. Habakkuk can hardly believe that his God appears to tolerate sin instead of punishing it (see v. 13).

the law is paralyzed. The Mosaic law had little impact on the hearts of these people and was not accomplishing its purpose. Instead, they were living according to their own greedy, self-centered desires. justice never goes forth. Habakkuk believes that God’s inactivity has caused injustice to become worse. The rich were using their power and money to get what they wanted; the rights of the poor were being trampled on. righteous. There was still a righteous remnant, but life was hard for them because they fell prey to the wicked and would not break God’s laws to get ahead.

God’s Response. God has already begun to answer Habakkuk’s request (the Babylonians are coming to punish the Israelites).

Look among the nations. Habakkuk lived in a time of political turmoil—the Assyrians were losing power, whereas the Babylonians were gaining it. you would not believe. Habakkuk refused to believe that a just God would allow the cruel Babylonians to punish his people.

I am raising up. God controls the political scene and uses nations for his own purposes (cf. Isa. 44:28; Dan. 2:21). Chaldeans. Another name for the Babylonians, but technically they were an ethnically diverse Aramean tribe in southern Babylon that began to take control as the Assyrians weakened. The Babylonians gained independence from Assyria in 626 B.C. and, continuing to increase in power, defeated Assyria in 605. Nebuchadnezzar led the Babylonians in this victory and consolidated the Babylonian Empire. After his father’s death in 605 B.C. he became king over the vast empire, which flourished until the Persians defeated it in 539. bitter and hasty nation. God knows the Babylonians well and uses their character traits to punish Judah.

their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. In pursuit of domination, the Babylonians were not bound by Judean legal systems, or even common decency. In their pride and arrogance they abused their power.

The Babylonians conquered their enemies so quickly that their horses seemed to come faster than swift leopards. Using horses allowed them to overtake their enemies before they had time to prepare. eagle. A bird of prey, depicting the Babylonians’ fierceness and voracious appetite for conquest.

violence. Habakkuk had seen violence in the land (v. 2), but the Babylonians took it to a whole new level. They gather captives like sand. The Babylonians continued the Assyrian policy of deporting captives to their land to discourage and disorient them.

scoff … laugh. The powerful Babylonians had little regard for weaker kings or rulers whose meager fortifications offered little resistance. they pile up earth. One of the primary means of capturing a walled city was to construct earthen ramps so that movable towers could be pushed close enough to the walls to breach them (see Isa. 29:3; Jer. 32:24).

whose own might is their god. The Babylonians had become so successful and powerful that they relied on their military might for protection, as others would have relied on their gods.

Are you not from everlasting? Habakkuk has good theology and knows that God lives forever (see Ps. 90:2). We shall not die. Several translations have “You shall not die” at this point, reflecting a later rabbinic tradition. This makes an easier reading than the abrupt change from “you” to “we,” but it finds no support in the Hebrew manuscripts or the Septuagint, and should not be considered original. Habakkuk grounds his confidence in God’s future for his people in the eternal nature of God. you … have established them. Habakkuk understands that God has ordained Babylon to be his agent of punishment.

purer eyes than to see evil. This is a classic statement of the puzzle of how an all-powerful God can allow sin to continue unchecked. Habakkuk cannot understand the justice of allowing wicked Babylon to punish a less wicked nation such as Judah. (He can call Judah more righteous because, even though most of its people were unfaithful to God’s covenants, some of them actually were faithful.) Habakkuk thinks that God’s holiness should have prohibited him from using the corrupt Babylonians.

Habakkuk’s charge against God is that he allows mankind to act like lower creatures (fish and crawling things) with no rulers or judges, so that wickedness goes unchecked.

He. That is, the “wicked” one in v. 13, a personification of the nation of Babylon. hook. See Amos 4:2. Captives were sometimes taken away with hooks in their noses—an intentionally painful and humiliating treatment. drags them out with his net. The image is that of a fish helplessly caught in a fishing net; Mesopotamian rock reliefs portray prisoners in nets being hauled off to captivity.

he sacrifices to his net. See note on v. 11. The Babylonians appear quite proud of their weapons of destruction.

mercilessly killing nations forever? If a righteous God does not step in to end the Babylonians’ wicked plan, who will? Where is God’s justice, and how can he tolerate this?