Habakkuk 1.2-4-Habakkuk Presents Nine Complaints to the Lord in Prayer

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday August 13, 2023

Habakkuk Series: Habakkuk 1:2-4-Habakkuk Issues Nine Complaints to the Lord in Prayer

Lesson # 4

Habakkuk 1:1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received. 2 How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. (NIV84)

Habakkuk 1:2 begins the first major section of the book which ends in Habakkuk 1:11 and which section records the Lord God of Israel responding to Habakkuk’s complaint that He had not judged unrepentant, apostate individuals in the southern kingdom of Judah.

This verse contains two questions, which are eventually answered by the Lord as recorded in Habakkuk 1:5-11 and each of these questions are answered by Habakkuk with a complaint.

The prophet’s first question asks the Lord as to how long must he repeatedly cry to Him for help?

Habakkuk answers this question by asserting that the Lord never wants to respond to his cries for help.

The prophet’s second question asks the Lord as to how long must he repeatedly cry out to Him, “Violence!?”

Habakkuk answers by asserting that the Lord never wants to deliver him from the danger.

This danger he was experiencing was from those individuals in the southern kingdom of Judah who were living in a state of apostasy and committing this violence.

In the first question in verse 3, Habakkuk asks the Lord, God of Israel as to why He caused him to witness acts of injustice?

This is used of actions which are in disobedience to the moral aspect of the Mosaic Law, namely, the ten commandments and is also used of disobedience to the command to love one’s neighbor as oneself and love the Lord your God with your entire being and strength.

This is indicated by the fact that the citizens of the southern kingdom of Judah were under the authority of the Mosaic Law.

The second question defines specifically the first in that it explains in more detail what he meant by the first and in this second question, the prophet asks the Lord as to why He caused him to observe wicked acts, thus, Habakkuk is defining acts of injustice as being wicked acts.

In this second question, the noun ʿā·māl means “wickedness” since the word pertains to the emotion of anguish associated with witnessing sinful behavior, especially by those who are the recipients of such evil acts.

This word also contains the figure of metonymy which means that wickedness is put for acts of wickedness and so therefore, this word is used of the wickedness performed by Habakkuk’s fellow citizens which caused the prophet great anguish.

Now, in verse 3, Habakkuk’s first complaint defines specifically what is meant by his second question and asserts that he was experiencing destructive acts of violence in his presence.

Therefore, this first complaint is defining acts of injustice mentioned in the first question and wicked acts mentioned in the second as being destructive acts of violence and specifically refers to the destruction brought about by acts of violence committed by the citizens of the southern kingdom of Judah.

The second complaint in Habakkuk 1:3 presents the result of the first and asserts that strife or conflict is present.

In this complaint, the noun rîḇ means “conflict” since the word pertains to conflict between two or more parties often with emphasis on the feelings between the parties and here it refers to the conflict between the citizens of the southern kingdom of Judah with emphasis on the animosity between them.

Therefore, with this second complaint, Habakkuk is asserting that conflict in the form of animosity existed between the citizens of Judah as a direct result of destructive acts of violence being committed by them against each other.

In other words, great animosity existed among the citizens of Judah as a direct result of committing destructive acts of violence against each other, which was in violation of the Mosaic Law and specifically the command to love one’s neighbor as oneself.

The third complaint in verse 3 presents the result of the second and asserts that contention or conflict arises and in this complaint, the noun mā·ḏôn means “contention” since the word pertains to contentious speech or a dispute where there is strong disagreement.

Therefore, with this third complaint, Habakkuk is asserting that contention arose among the citizens of Judah as a direct result of the conflict between them or in other words, contentious words were being exchanged among the citizens of Judah as a result of the conflict between them.

This manifested itself in destructive acts of violence, which were in violation of the Mosaic Law and specifically the command to love one’s neighbor as oneself.

Habakkuk 1:4 contains four declarations from the prophet Habakkuk under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Now, the first declaration, which asserts that the Mosaic Law existed in the state of being impotent presents the result of the previous questions and complaints presented in Habakkuk 1:2-3.

Therefore, a comparison of Habakkuk 1:2-3 with Habakkuk 1:4 indicates that the Mosaic Law is impotent or lacking power as a result of the wicked, destructive acts of violence committed by the citizens of the southern kingdom of Judah.

Now, the second declaration in Habakkuk 1:4 asserts that justice is perpetually never existing in the state of being executed and presents the result of the previous assertion that the Law existed in the state of being impotent.

Therefore, a comparison of the first and second declaration in Habakkuk 1:4 indicates that justice was perpetually never existing in the state of being executed in the southern kingdom of Judah as a result of the Law existing in the state of being impotent.

“Justice” (mišpāṭ) pertains to a state or condition of fairness towards people and speaks of the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments and denotes being impartial and fair as a judge.

The word pertains to judgment involved in the determination of rights and the assignment of rewards and punishments.

Therefore, this second declaration is asserting that justice was never executed in Judah in the sense that either judges failed to render decisions in accordance with what the Law requires or judges issued decisions which are in accordance with the Law but which decisions were never carried out.

Consequently, the justice required by the Law was never being executed or carried out so as to hold accountable those citizens of the kingdom of Judah who refused to observe what the Law requires of them and their behavior.

The third declaration which appears in Habakkuk 1:4 asserts that the wicked repeatedly caused the righteous to enter the state of being intimidated and presents the reason for the previous assertion that justice in the kingdom of Judah perpetually never existed in the state of being carried out.

Therefore, the causal interpretation of this word would be expressing the idea that justice in the kingdom of Judah perpetually never executed “because” the wicked intimidated the righteous.

In this third declaration, the adjective rā·šāʿ pertains to a group of people who are characterized by wicked behavior and character and speaks of being evil with emphasis on the guilt of violating a standard.

Here it is used with regards to unrepentant, disobedient, idolatrous Jews living in Judah and the city of Jerusalem and describes these Jews as wicked or evil in the sense that they are disobedient to God’s law which reflects His holy standards.

The actions of these wicked individuals are described by the verb kā·ṯǎr which literally means “to surround, to encompass, to gather around” and is used in a negative hostile sense.

It pertains to encircling someone or extending on all sides of them simultaneously in order to intimidate them and conveys the idea of hemming in somebody for the purpose of intimidating them.

“The righteous” (ṣaddîq) pertains to a person who is characterized by righteous words and actions, which are the result of obeying the command to love your neighbor as yourself.

It speaks of the fact that they are fulfilling their obligation to their fellow human being required by the Law, which is that they love their fellow human being as they would themselves.

Lastly, the fourth and final declaration asserts that justice is repeatedly caused to enter the state of being perverted and presents the result of the previous statement, which asserts that the wicked were repeatedly causing the righteous in the kingdom of Judah to enter the state of being intimidated.

Therefore, a comparison of the third and fourth declarations indicates that justice was repeatedly caused to enter the state of being perverted in the kingdom of Judah as a direct result of the wicked repeatedly causing the righteous to enter into the state of being intimidated.

The reason why justice was perpetually never executed in the kingdom of Judah in Habakkuk’s day and why it was repeatedly perverted was the civil or political and religious leaders of the nation who were responsible for upholding the Law.

However, the citizens of the nation were also responsible because they did not obey the commands and prohibitions of the Mosaic Law, which were designed to govern their conduct.