THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK
Habakkuk was a prophet who lived during the same time as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zephaniah. He prophesied during the final days of the Assyrian empire and the beginning of Babylon’s world domination. God used the Assyrian empire to punish the northern kingdom of Israel and the book of Habbakuk anticipates how God will now use the Babylonians to punish the Assyrian empire and the southern kingdom of Judah.
The book of Habakkuk was most likely written during the reign of King Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:34-24:17). In stark contrast to his righteous father King Josiah, Jehoiakim was a wicked king whose reign was marked by much sin and injustice. Habakkuk questions why God seems passive in the face of such rampant wickedness. But even worse, when God does decide to act, he uses people who are even worse to judge his people. Why would God do this? Habakkuk can’t understand what God is doing and expresses his frustration to God.
God does graciously answer many of Habakkuk’s complaints by telling him that he will act according to his timetable and letting him know that eventually the Babylonians will also be judged. Ultimately however, the book of Habakkuk calls for believers to place their faith in God, finding hope and joy in the knowledge that he will ultimately work everything out for his glory and in perfect righteousness and justice.
TIMELINE
- Contemporaries of Habakkuk: Nahum, circa 660 BC. Zephaniah, circa 640 BC. Jeremiah, circa 625 BC. Habakkuk, circa 615 BC, Ezekiel, 593 BC, Daniel, 536 BC.
- After discovering the Book of the Law in the temple (622 bc), King Josiah made great reforms (2 Kin. 23). These were quickly overturned by his successor, King Jehoiakim (Jer. 22:13–19).
- Death of Josiah (609 bc) by the Egyptian king Necho at Megiddo (2 Chr. 35:20–24).
- Nebuchadnezzar commenced his military march through Nineveh (612 bc), Haran (609 bc), and Carchemish (605 bc). These assaults mark the final fall of Assyria.
- Babylon invades Judah in 605, 597, and 586 BC
OUTLINE OF CONTENTS
I. Habakkuk’s Complaint
Habakkuk 1:1–4. The prophet cries to God because of the lawlessness he sees around him and asks how long it will go unpunished.
II. Yahweh’s Response
Habakkuk 1:5–11. In reply, God announces that he is raising up the Chaldeans (i.e. the Babylonians) and describes the fierceness of their armies and their contempt for all who stand in their way.
III. Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
Habakkuk 1:12–17. But if God is holy, why would he send the Chaldeans to punish Israel, when their atrocities and idolatry are worse than the evils that they are sent to punish?
IV. Yahweh’s Second Response: The Righteous Shall Live By Faith!
Habakkuk 2:1–5. The prophet waits upon his watchtower to see if God will resolve his dilemma. The answer comes in the assertion that the pride of the Chaldean will be his downfall and the faithfulness of the righteous will be his salvation.
V. Woe to the Chaldeans
Habakkuk 2:6–20. A taunt-song (māšāl) addressed to the Chaldeans, consisting of a series of five woes predicting dire consequences upon them for the acts of brutal inhumanity for which they are responsible.
VI. Habakkuk’s Prayer
Habakkuk 3:1–19. This psalm of Habakkuk describes a revelation of God coming in his awful majesty to bring judgment upon the nations and salvation to his people.
Outline adapted from: D. R. W. Wood and I. Howard Marshall, New Bible Dictionary (3rd ed.; Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 438.
QUESTIONS
1. Habakkuk had a complaint about the way things were going. What is he concerned about? (see 1:2-4)
2. In what ways is Habakkuk a good example to us? Or is he? Why or why not? In what ways do you think we should emulate his action in the first four verses of this book?
3. Habakkuk knew (as do we) that God loves justice and hates injustice. Why then does God let injustice continue?
4. Do you think the Lord’s answer to Habakkuk’s question would be much different now in our day than what it was back then (as found in Habakkuk 1:5-11)?
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