Bible Overview: Habakkuk and Zephaniah
Notes
Transcript
Habakkuk
Habakkuk
Author: Habakkuk
Author: Habakkuk
Addressed to God, not to the people of Judah.
Habakkuk’s personal struggle with evil—the evil of his people, and the evil of the Babylonians who were coming to destroy his people.
Date: 609 B.C.
Date: 609 B.C.
Probably written at or near the end of the time of Josiah (who died in 609), or at least before the first wave of Babylonian captivity in 605 B.C.
Content:
Content:
1. First Complaint and Response (1:1-11)
-Habakkuk complains, “God, the people of Judah don’t care about you or your laws and instruction. How can you overlook the injustice of the people of Judah?”
-God replies, “I’m not overlooking their injustice; I’m bringing judgment by the Babylonians (Chaldeans).”
2. Second Complaint and Response (1:12-2:5)
-Habakkuk complains, “God how can you use a nation that’s even more unjust than Judah to punish Judah.”
-God replies, “I will also punish Babylon for their injustice. I will deal justly with every nation and kingdom, and only those who live by faith are righteous and will live.”
3. God’s Woes on Injustice (2:6-20)
-Babylon and every other nation or people that refuses to follow God and his laws will suffer his judgment.
4. Habakkuk’s Prayer (3:1-19)
-Habakkuk pleads for mercy
-Habakkuk has a vision of God’s power and coming justice against the Babylonians; he uses Exodus language to show that the Exodus was a pattern of how God deals with all proud nations like he did with Pharaoh and Egypt.
-Habakkuk rests in the promises and character of God; he trusts God and demonstrates his faith by praising God
Key Passages
Key Passages
You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”
O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
Application:
Application:
God does not overlook injustice, even if we do not see his justice with our own eyes or experience it in our lifetime. God will punish evil and injustice sooner or later. We must simply trust him to do what is right at the right time.
Zephaniah
Zephaniah
Author: Zephaniah
Author: Zephaniah
Name means “Yahweh hides” (speaking of God’s hiding from the people or of God’s hiding the remnant safely away from his judgment)
A contemporary of Jeremiah, but not to be confused with the priest Zephaniah mentioned in Jeremiah’s prophecy and in 2 Kings.
May be related to King Hezekiah, but his father’s name is Cushi (“Cushite” or “Ethiopian”) — see Zephaniah 1:1
The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
Date: 635 B.C.
Date: 635 B.C.
He likely ministered during the early days of Josiah — see Zephaniah 1:1 — when Josiah was still young and needed godly wisdom and direction for how to be a godly king. Zephaniah may have played a part in the religious reforms of Josiah’s reign — restoring the Temple, celebrating Passover, teaching the people God’s laws, etc.
The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
Content
Content
1. Judgment on Judah (1:1-2:3)
2. Judgment on Neighboring Nations (2:4-15)
3. Judgment on Jerusalem (3:1-8)
4. Future Restoration and Blessing for Judah and the Nations (3:9-20)
Theme: The Day of the LORD
Theme: The Day of the LORD
“The Day of the LORD” and “that day” occurs 13 times in Zephaniah.
Refers to the coming day of God’s judgment against sin, which only a remnant will survive.
Key Passages:
Key Passages:
Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.
The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord.
“For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord.
From beyond the rivers of Cush my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering.
“On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain.
But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord,
those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. For they shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.”
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
Application:
Application:
God will one day deal with all sin in his just anger. We must humble ourselves before him and turn to him to escape his justice and experience his mercy instead.