An Embrace For Those Who Struggle

Intro: The 12 forgotten guys. The minor prophets, minor not because they are less important, but because they are shorter books. These minor prophets deal with major themes as we will see in our study of Habakkuk. So before we jump into the text, lets look into the setting. Who is Habakkuk? Where is he living? What is going on in his community? What is going on in the nations around him?

I. Who is Habakkuk?

A. What we don’t know.

1.Parents

2. Tribe?

3. Hometown

B. What we do know

1. He was a prophet.

a) His Role- One of the roles of a prophet was to serve as an intermediary between the God of Israel and his people. He was to indicate when they strayed from the covenant into which they had voluntarily entered, and urge them to return to it.

Habakkuk takes it upon himself to work in the other direction, calling God to account when his actions did not seem to correspond to those demanded by the covenant.

The situation of a prophet was precarious enough when he confronted his people, but it is a very rare individual who will put himself completely on the line by confronting his God. Such a man was Habakkuk.

b) His simple introduction as “the prophet Habakkuk” may imply that he needed no introduction since he was a well known prophet of his day. It is certain that he was a contemporary of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zephaniah. (J Mac https://www.gty.org/library/bible-introductions/MSB35/habakkuk)

2. Possibly a Levitical Priest - Habakkuk might have been a Levite and even a priest, since the end of the book contains musical instruction, typically associated with Levites (). A dual role as prophet and priest was not necessarily uncommon: The prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah also served as priests.

II. Where & When is Habakkuk living?

A. Time Line

Timeline of Habakkuk

BC 722: Northern Kingdom of Israel (10 tribes) falls & is exiled to Assyria 627: Jeremiah begins his prophetic ministry 621: Rediscovery of Book of Law which had been lost in House of God! Josiah's reformation (but not lasting revival) 612: Fall of Nineveh, capital of Assyria 609: Death of godly King Josiah/Jehoiakim 607: Habakkuk begins his prophetic ministry 605: Nebuchadnezzar defeats Pharaoh Necho of Egypt at Battle of Carchemish = "the turning point of world history" 605: First invasion of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon; Daniel taken captive 597: Second invasion of Judah by Babylon; Ezekiel and 10,000 taken captive 592: Ezekiel begins his prophetic ministry to Babylonian exiles 586: Fall of Jerusalem, Destruction of Temple 538: Exiles return from Babylon to Judah (relatively small number return)

B. Setting

722: Northern Kingdom of Israel (10 tribes) falls & is exiled to Assyria 627: Jeremiah begins his prophetic ministry 621: Rediscovery of Book of Law which had been lost in House of God! Josiah's reformation (but not lasting revival) 612: Fall of Nineveh, capital of Assyria 609: Death of godly King Josiah 607: Habakkuk begins his prophetic ministry 605: Nebuchadnezzar defeats Pharaoh Necho of Egypt at Battle of Carchemish = "the turning point of world history" 605: First invasion of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon; Daniel taken captive 597: Second invasion of Judah by Babylon; Ezekiel and 10,000 taken captive 592: Ezekiel begins his prophetic ministry to Babylonian exiles 586: Fall of Jerusalem, Destruction of Temple 538: Exiles return from Babylon to Judah (relatively small number return)

1. The Northern Kingdom Has Fallen 722

a) Should have been a warning to the Southern kingdom

b) 117 years of grace

2. Habakkuk is in the Southern Kingdom

a) lived through the revival/reformation of Josiah ()

b) Starts ministry during the reign of Jehoiakim

Did evil in the sight of the Lord

Was taken captive by Nebachadnezzer, allong with Daniel but was returned to act as Vassal for Babylon

Jeremiah prophesied in the kings courts

Murdered a godly prophet

Prophecy against the king ;

King got too big for his britches and refused to pay Babylon, Babylon sieges Jerusalem and his body thrown over the city walls (; ; )

c) Habakkuk is a prophet during the reign of Jehoiakim

He is concerned with the nations sin

He is concerned with the injustices in his immediate community and the world

Much of what we will read in Habakkuk is not prophetic utterances between a prophet and the nation. But a prophet questioning God asking him where are you and what are you going to do about this?

III. Themes

Habakkuk is in a struggle in this book and he will ask questions of God that people have asked through the centuries and still ask today.

A. Why does God permit evil to flourish, injustice to triumph?

B. If God is righteous, how can God use the wicked as a means of judgement?

C. What we will discover in Habakkuk, which is a seed being planted to flourish into the Gospel when Christ comes, “the just will live by faith”. To Habbakuk that means he need to trust that God knows what he is doing. Even though he didn’t understand he need to remain faithful to the Word, faithful to His God, no matter what is wrong in your community, nation world. He must continue to be a prophetic voice to his community.

Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Baker, D. W. (1988). Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 27, pp. 41–42). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.