Habakkuk: Introduction Part 1

The book of Habakkuk was written by a late seventh century B.C. prophet from the southern kingdom of Judah and deals with the God of Israel’s justice in relation to evil and specifically, it addresses the problem of a holy God and the presence of evil in the world.

The book is rather unusual and unique in that unlike the other prophets of Israel and Judah who communicated God’s message to either the United Kingdom of Israel, or the northern and southern kingdoms, Habakkuk dialogs with God.

In fact, most of the Old Testament prophets proclaimed God’s judgment to the nation of Israel, the northern and southern kingdoms or other Gentile nations, however, Habakkuk pleaded with God on behalf of the faithful in Judah to judge the apostate individuals in his own country.

In this book, the prophet Habakkuk complains to the God of Israel that He seems to be delaying judging individuals in the southern kingdom of Judah who were unrepentantly disobedient to the Mosaic Law (1:2-4).

God responds by informing the prophet that He will send the Babylonians as His instruments to judge these unrepentant Judeans (1:5-11).

Habakkuk then responds by questioning God’s choice of the Babylonians who he considers more wicked than these unrepentant Jews (1:12-17).

Habakkuk then waits for an answer from God (2:1), who responds by assuring Habakkuk that He will also judge the Babylonians for their unrepentant wicked behavior (2:2-20).

This is followed by the Lord giving the prophet a vision of Himself as the Divine Warrior (3:1-15).

The book closes with Habakkuk confessing his confidence that the Lord will execute justice (3:16-19).

Now, both Jewish and Christian circles accepted the book of Habakkuk’s canonical status since it was never questioned among these two groups because there is no ancient record of a dispute over the book.

The unity of the book which was called into question in modern times because of chapter three, did not affect its acceptance and in fact, there is no ancient record of a dispute concerning the unity of the book and chapter three.

The term “canon” or “canonicity” in Christianity refers to a collection of many books acknowledged or recognized by the early church as inspired by God.

Like Haggai, we know next to nothing about the prophet Habakkuk since the book which bears his name simply records his name and that he was a prophet.

The life and ministry of Habakkuk are a mystery since the Scriptures do not identify his parentage or genealogy.

This sets him apart from most of the prophets of Israel since most provide in their prophecies a personal genealogy or geographical origin or royal contemporaries (Isa 1:1; Jer 1:1–3; Ezek 1:1–3; Hos 1:1; Joel 1:1; Amos 1:1; Jonah 1:1; Mic 1:1; Nah 1:1; Zeph 1:1; Zech 1:1.).

Thus, the book of Habakkuk is similar to the books of Obadiah, Haggai and Malachi and we also have no idea of when and where he died.

Despite this lack of information on Habakkuk, some have contended that he could have very well been a musician of the Levitical office which is indicated by the last statement in his book, “For the director of music. On my stringed instruments” (Hab. 3:19).

Therefore, we do know that Habakkuk was an ordained prophet who might have been a Levitical musician.

He also appeared to be very well educated and zealous for God since he writes in a poetic literary style, which suggests this.

The contents of his book reveals his zeal for God’s holiness.

The book of Habakkuk stands in the eighth position among “The Twelve” or Minor Prophets in both the Masoretic and Greek texts and follows Nahum and precedes Zephaniah.

These twelve books cover a period of approximately three hundred years, from 760 B.C. to approximately 450 B.C., ending with Malachi.

Except for the book of Jonah, these books all identify the author in a heading and they are arranged in the biblical canon chronologically with the exception of Joel and Obadiah.

Hosea, Amos, Jonah and Micah were written in the eighth century B.C.

Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah were penned in the seventh century B.C. Joel, Obadiah, Haggai and Zechariah were composed in the sixth century B.C. while Malachi was written in the fifth century B.C.

In the Hebrew Bible, the Minor Prophets were treated as a unity.

Though they share similar themes, each are distinct literary units with distinct messages.

These twelve books are called “minor” not because they are less important in inspiration and reliability than the “major” prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, but rather mainly because they are short in length in comparison to the latter books.

In fact, as we noted Haggai is the second shortest book in the Old Testament with Obadiah being the shortest.

The prophets of God who were sent to Israel were in effect covenant enforcers in the sense that they called the people to repent by confessing their sins to God to be restored to fellowship with God and they also exhorted them to obedience to God to maintain that fellowship with God.

By rejecting this message, Israel put themselves under divine discipline.

The fact that God sent the prophets to warn Israel reveals that God did not want to judge the nation and in fact loved the nation.

It appears the citizens of the southern kingdom of Judah at the end of the seventh century B.C. were the recipients of the book of Habakkuk even though the prophet does not identify specifically the recipients of his book since it is a record of his dialogue with the God of Israel.

Specifically, the recipients would be those in the nation who had remained faithful to the God of Israel by remaining obedient to the Mosaic Law since Habakkuk issues his first complaint to God regarding those in his nation who were not faithful to the Mosaic covenant.

The majority of scholars date the book of Habakkuk toward the end of the seventh century B.C. because of the reference to the Babylonians in Habakkuk 1:6.

However, there is no consensus at arriving at a precise date.

Some propose that Habakkuk was written somewhere between 697-642 B.C. during the reign of Manasseh.

Others propose that it was written somewhere between 640-609 B.C. during the reign of Josiah.

Another group propose that Habakkuk was written between 609-598 B.C. during the reign of Jehoiakim.

Those scholars who date the book during the reign of Manasseh assert that the statement in Habakkuk 1:6 indicates a period before Babylon ascended to superpower status.

Thus, they contend that the date would have to be before the battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoh Neco II of Egypt.

Babylon then became a world power most likely before 612 B.C. when Babylon overthrew Nineveh.

The problem with this view is that if the fulfillment of Habakkuk’s prophecy (Hab. 1:6) is the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians in 586 B.C., then the book could not have been written early in the reign of Manasseh.

The prophecy is said to be fulfilled “in your days” or “your lifetime” (NET) in Habakkuk 1:5 and those who heard the prophecy in the early years of Manasseh’s reign would probably have died before its fulfillment.

The problem with dating Habakkuk during the reign of Josiah is that this king led the nation of Judah during a period of repentance, revival and reforms while Habakkuk 1:2-4 describes the exact opposite.

I am of the conviction that Habakkuk was written in 605 B.C. during the reign of Jehoiakim since Habakkuk 1:6 records the God of Israel informing the prophet Habakkuk that He was about to empower the Babylonians to be His instrument to judge the unfaithful in the kingdom of Judah.

Thus, the text says that this attack had not yet taken place and was imminent.

Also, the contents of Habakkuk 1:7-11 indicate that the Babylonians already possessed a fierce reputation which was feared in Habakkuk’s culture.

We know from secular history and biblical history that the Babylonians launched three attacks of the kingdom of Judah, namely, in 605, 597 and 586 B.C.

Consequently, the book of Habakkuk must have been written just prior to the first of three Babylonian invasions led by Nebuchadnezzar which took place in 605 B.C.

Therefore, Habakkuk was written just prior to the first Babylonian invasion of the southern kingdom of Judah in 605 B.C.

Therefore, the book of Habakkuk was written during a period in which Babylon had just defeated Egypt at the battle of Carchemish.

With this great victory, Babylon became the number one super power of the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world and they struck fear in the hearts of every nation in these regions including the kingdom of Judah.