Habakkuk: From Gloom to Glory
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Characteristic of the day:
Imagine for a moment that you are walking down the street by a park and you see an elderly woman being attacked by a gang of thugs. Then you observe a policeman, sitting on one of the park benches, perusing the local paper. You shout to the policeman, pointing to the woman in distress, but he refuses to lift a finger to come to her aid and continues reading his paper. Wouldn’t you be angry with the policeman?
This is how Habakkuk felt. His ministry was taking place during the final dark days of Judah, just before her captivity.
I. First question: “God, where is Your justice?” — 1:1-4.
I. First question: “God, where is Your justice?” — 1:1-4.
Habakkuk rightly assesses the spiritual state of the nation, and he agonizes over the rampant sins of the nation. He wonders why the LORD is not answering his prayers, and fumes with anger because God appears to be doing nothing about it.
The essence of Habakkuk’s protest: “God, I have persisted at urging you to deal with the sins of this people, but why are you silent? Why are you permitting this? You are a just God — why is there no justice for us?”
II. God’s response: “I have a plan already set in motion.” — 1:5-11.
II. God’s response: “I have a plan already set in motion.” — 1:5-11.
Contrary to Habakkuk’s perception, God was at work.
He informs the prophet that He is raising up the Chaldeans as His instrument of judgment upon Judah.
The Chaldeans are a Semitic people of Southern Mesopotamia. The Scriptures uses the Chaldeans as a virtual synonym for Babylon.
Nabopolassar, a native Chaldean governor, takes the Babylonian throne in 626 BC, establishing a dynasty that made the name Chaldean familiar to the nations in the Near East.
They were an arrogant, powerful, and wicked people who love to terrorize their victims. They are a law unto themselves (v. 7), doing whatever they want.
Their warriors are swift to battle and fierce in battle. They are all bent on violence, and collect captives from every nation. They scoff at the rulers of surrounding nations and scorn their fortifications.
Verse 11 is crucial. God was raising up a very violent and cruel nation to judge His people. But God is not going to let them get away with their sins, either.
These people had made their own strength into an idol. Cruel and vicious, they worshipped themselves and their abilities and they would be judged for it.
III. Second question: “What are You doing, LORD?” — 1:12-2:1.
III. Second question: “What are You doing, LORD?” — 1:12-2:1.
There are three arguments that Habakkuk brings to what God has planned.
A. Argument #1 — (v. 12) God is eternal and His promises are eternal; therefore if Babylon destroys Jerusalem and Judah … what about God’s eternal promises?
A. Argument #1 — (v. 12) God is eternal and His promises are eternal; therefore if Babylon destroys Jerusalem and Judah … what about God’s eternal promises?
God always leaves a remnant. Isa. 1:8-9
The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
Unless the Lord of hosts Had left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah.
“Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply.
B. Argument #2 — (v. 13) God is righteous and abhors evil; therefore … can a righteous God achieve His purposes by unrighteous means?
B. Argument #2 — (v. 13) God is righteous and abhors evil; therefore … can a righteous God achieve His purposes by unrighteous means?
Moses shared with the children of Israel this prediction about their future, Deuteronomy 28:36-37
“The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone.
“You shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the people where the Lord drives you.
“The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand,
a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young.
The Point: those in Judah were not more righteous, but they were more culpable because they know what the LORD requires of them in the Law.
C. Argument #3 — (vs. 14-17) God hates and forbids idolatry. The Babylonians are idolators; therefore … will God allow them to prosper against His people?
C. Argument #3 — (vs. 14-17) God hates and forbids idolatry. The Babylonians are idolators; therefore … will God allow them to prosper against His people?
Habakkuk depicts the Babylonians as fishermen who use any and every means necessary to capture men. Then they worship the very tools they used to do so as well as the power to use those tools. Another nation, the Scythians, did something yearly, where they offered sacrifices to the curved sword, symbolizing the war god Ares.
Jeremiah’s words of prophesy to Judah :
“Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known,
Judah would not prosper living in idolatry; neither would any other nation.
Habakkuk responds then, to his credit, will wait on God’s answer. As the LORD answers him, he will humbly accept the LORD’s correction in his thinking; meanwhile, he will stand at post.
IV. God responds: “Listen well, trust Me, and be silent before Me.” — 2:4-20.
IV. God responds: “Listen well, trust Me, and be silent before Me.” — 2:4-20.
God’s decision for judgment is firm. “Write it in big letters so there can be no mistake when a messenger delivers it. Let all see and know what the LORD has declared. It is coming … and there is no stopping it.”
A. God’s accurate discernment of people, 2:4-5.
A. God’s accurate discernment of people, 2:4-5.
In light of Habakkuk’s comparison of the Babylonians to the Judeans, the LORD says, “Habakkuk, there are two types of people:
The proud, whose soul is not right within themselves;
The righteous, who live by faith, in faithfulness to God.”
The proud, haughty ones are never satisfied; the righteous ones find their satisfaction in the LORD.
B. God pronounces woes against Babylon (indicting Judah as well), 2:6-20.
B. God pronounces woes against Babylon (indicting Judah as well), 2:6-20.
1) Woe #1 — Ill-gotten gain and exploitation, vs. 6-8.
1) Woe #1 — Ill-gotten gain and exploitation, vs. 6-8.
All you beasts of the field, All you beasts in the forest, Come to eat.
His watchmen are blind, All of them know nothing. All of them are mute dogs unable to bark, Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber;
And the dogs are greedy, they are not satisfied. And they are shepherds who have no understanding; They have all turned to their own way, Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one.
“Come,” they say, “let us get wine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink; And tomorrow will be like today, only more so.”
2) Woe #2 — Covetousness and self-exhaltation, vs. 9-11.
2) Woe #2 — Covetousness and self-exhaltation, vs. 9-11.
“But your eyes and your heart Are intent only upon your own dishonest gain, And on shedding innocent blood And on practicing oppression and extortion.”
3) Woe #3 — Tyrannical oppression, vs. 12-14.
3) Woe #3 — Tyrannical oppression, vs. 12-14.
In verse 12 God condemns the Babylonians, who “builds a city with bloodshed.” Compare this with these words from the prophet Micah, condemning God’s people for building Jerusalem with bloodshed and violence:
Now hear this, heads of the house of Jacob And rulers of the house of Israel, Who abhor justice And twist everything that is straight,
Who build Zion with bloodshed And Jerusalem with violent injustice.
4) Woe #4 — Avarice and greed, vs. 15-17.
4) Woe #4 — Avarice and greed, vs. 15-17.
Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, Until there is no more room, So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!
In my ears the Lord of hosts has sworn, “Surely, many houses shall become desolate, Even great and fine ones, without occupants.
“For ten acres of vineyard will yield only one bath of wine, And a homer of seed will yield but an ephah of grain.”
5) Woe #5 — Idolatry vs. the living LORD, vs. 18-20.
5) Woe #5 — Idolatry vs. the living LORD, vs. 18-20.
“Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols;
therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle.
The reforms of Josiah were short-lived, and in the times that Habakkuk prophesies during the reign of Jehoiakim, evil once again had sway over Judah and Jerusalem.
The song of Habakkuk, 3:1-19.
The song of Habakkuk, 3:1-19.
Habakkuk hears the report and sees the majesty of God. All the verses from verse 3 through 15 should be translated in a future sense. At one time, the LORD went forth on behalf of the children of Israel. Now, in a future day, the LORD will go forth again in great majesty and might.
The radiance of the sun, even the bright rays of the sun dim in splendor in the face of the glory of God.
The majesty of His power revealed brings fear to the earth and the nations.
The LORD works in time and in all creation, but transcends all.
Verse 9 — “According to God’s solemn oath, He had foretold vengeance upon His enemies.
‘Indeed, I lift up My hand to heaven, And say, as I live forever,
If I sharpen My flashing sword, And My hand takes hold on justice, I will render vengeance on My adversaries, And I will repay those who hate Me.
‘I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword will devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the long-haired leaders of the enemy.’
Verse 10 … In consequence of God’s wrath, evidence the true power of God.
Verse 12 — Why?
Verse 13 — Allegorically speaking of the Chaldean dynasty.
Verse 16ff. — Ct. Deuteronomy 8:7-10
“For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;
a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;
a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.
“When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.
We could certainly paraphrase these thoughts in terms we would understand; after all, most of us do not measure our well-being in terms of figs, fruit, and flocks. We might say:
Though the Social Security fund is depleted, though the stock market crashes, though my insurance company goes bankrupt and my IRA account vaporizes; though I lose my job or my business fails, I will rejoice because of the LORD.
Habakkuk’s peace and joy no longer were dependent on his circumstances. When God brought judgment upon Judah, Habakkuk could still rejoice for his hope, faith, and joy were in God alone. In His time, God would deliver the righteous and fulfill His covenant promises. Until then, God was the source of His strength, strength that would sustain him in the dark days ahead. A humbled Habakkuk realizes that God is the one who lifts him up and will give him sure footing in the hard times.