HABAKKUK STUDY GUIDE part 4

QUESTIONS

1. Habakkuk’s prayer in Habakkuk 3 anticipates God’s judgment but also pleads for God’s mercy. How does affirming the rightness of God’s judgment help us better appreciate and receive God’s mercy?



2. Habakkuk’s prayer also shows an expectation of God’s salvation. Even in the worst trials we can be confident that, because of God’s great mercy, he will save his people (3:13). How does this truth help us understand and deal with our own trials today? How does it help reinforce our faith in the midst of trials?



3. In Habakkuk 3:3-4, God’s coming is compared to a thunderstorm. What are some of the comparisons made and why are they significant?



4. In Habakkuk 3:5-7, God is portrayed as a cosmic king and in 3:8-15 he is portrayed as a divine warrior. What is the significance of having a God who is described in these ways?



5. According to Habakkuk 3:8-15, what is God coming to do? Which specific verses do you draw your answer from? How does this reinforce the concept of God as a powerful and righteous judge? Do you struggle with the concept of God as a powerful and righteous judge? Why or why not?



6. Commentator Ken Barker in the New American Commentary writes the following about v.13:

“’Anointed’ meant chosen of God for a particular purpose. The term “anointed one” was used of the high priest or the king as a member of the Davidic line but could also indicate another divinely selected individual, such as Cyrus in Isa 45:1. In this context the term has multiple meanings. In reference to the exodus it would most likely point to Moses. But in Habakkuk’s day it referred to God’s anointed people in general and a hoped-for king/deliverer in particular. In the context of sacred canon it looked forward to Messiah, fulfilled in the life, sufferings, death, resurrection, and salvation of Jesus of Nazareth.”

How does the fact that Jesus is the ultimate “anointed” of God help us apply v.13 to the believer today?



FURTHER REFLECTION

In James Joyce’s Ulysses, his young hero represents the modern spirit of many. “History,” Stephen said, “is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.” Henry Ford had a more down-to-earth way of putting the same thing: “History is bunk.” These are, hopefully, the last cries of the Enlightenment, which viewed history as the worthless fabric of superstition and error.

Christians cannot afford to by-pass such knowledge of the past, for a nation or a society without a memory is not only a society devoid of a past, but a society with a detached present and no direction for the future.

The importance of acknowledging that the events recorded in the Bible actually happened is poignantly demonstrated in D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s stern warning:

If God did not actually do the things recorded in the Old Testament for Israel, then the whole Bible may be just a piece of psychology meant to keep me happy. The Bible, however, plainly shows that my comfort and consolation lie in facts—the fact that God has done certain things and that they have literally happened. The God in whom I believe is the God who could and did divide the Red Sea and the river Jordan. In reminding himself and us of these things, Habakkuk is not just comforting himself by playing with ideas; he is speaking of the things that God has actually done. The Christian faith is solidly based upon facts, not ideas. And if the facts recorded in the Bible are not true, then I have no hope and no comfort. For we are not saved by ideas; but by facts, by events.

The theophany of this section of Habakkuk’s message has brought us full circle from the prophet’s first complaint at the beginning of this book. Now Yahweh stands face to face with the enemy, the “proud”; they were at the opposite end of the spectrum from the justified by faith! This great power, and, apparently, all haughty nations that take Babylon’s path, will suffer smashing defeat and God’s victorious conclusion. The victory over the wicked is described in a memorable picture. God will strike the head from the house of the wicked (v. 13). How reminiscent of Genesis 3:15 this is! The enemy may nip the heel of the coming Seed of the woman, but God will crush the head of Satan himself.

The prophet’s vision is rooted in the historic past of Israel. Each of the themes Habakkuk chooses for his hymn-prayer comes from decisive chapters in the history of salvation. Thus the basic elements of theophany are woven together with remembrances of God’s past acts, which serve to encourage Judah in desperate moments to keep on believing. Prayers of praise and thanksgiving to God are responses to His bounteous acts of grace.

Moreover, in this way the people not only called to mind with deep gratitude what God had done, but they expressed in a most vivid way that God is the One who truly lives. He is the sovereign Lord of history as well. Nothing takes place without His knowing it. History is not bunk; it is “His-story,” and He will write its ending as well as its mission statement.

SOURCE: Walter C. Kaiser and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, The Preacher's Commentary Series, Volume 23.



HABAKKUK AND THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS: DID YOU KNOW?
Habakkuk was one of the books found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. These ancient scrolls are important because they are much older than any of the copies we previously possessed. The biblical portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls showed great consistency with copies which were made hundreds - and in some cases - thousands of years later.

The Pesher Habakkuk, or Habakkuk Commentary (1QHab) was among the original seven scrolls found in 1947 in the Qumran Caves by the Dead Sea in Israel. The Dead Sea Scrolls versions of Habakkuk show only very minor differences from the Masoretic text of our Bible today (one of the small alterations is found in Habakkuk 2:6).



HABAKKUK BIBLIOGRAPHY
adapted from an article by Keith Mathison for ligonier.org

If you want to learn more about this book, here are some works we commend to you:

O. Palmer Robertson — The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (NICOT).
Very helpful at explaining the larger theological themes found within the book.

Thomas E. McComiskey — The Minor Prophets.
Technical but insightful.

David W. Baker — Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (TOTC).
The best introductory level commentary available. Brief but communicates the main ideas very well.

Kenneth L. Barker and Waylon Bailey — Micah Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (NAC).
A thorough and helpful commentary.