Habakkuk
Introduction
The Prophet Habakkuk was a musician in the Templeaccording to chapter threeand he was possibly old enough to remember the Revival under King Josiah.
There is no information about Habakkuk found in any other book of the Bible. His family is not mentioned only his profession before becoming a one message prophet.
It was then that theword of God was found in the Temple storage area and it was read to the young King and he began to burn down all the images and groves set up by his predecessors.
Chapter One
Ye will not Believe
1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
Habakkuk had a burden for his nation to return to holiness and he became bewildered at God's timing in dealing with the situation until he learned that God's timing is best.
2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!
From these verses, we learn that Habakkuk wasvery close to God but we don't know anything about his upbringing.
Habakkuk was thinking that God wastaking too long to avenge the innocent in Israel who have suffered at those in high places who had forgotten what God did through Josiah not too long ago.
3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.
Apparently, God showed Habakkuk more than he would have normally seen in his everyday life perhaps through a vision and it bewildered Habakkuk as to why God allowed it to continue.
The very fact that God was showing Habakkuk how evil Israel had become was proof that God was about to do something and he was going to use Habakkuk to bring that to pass.
Sometimes we complain about all the suffering in the world and we start to blame God when it was God who put the burden inus to be the answer but all the while we just wait for God to do something miraculous to solve the problem.
4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
Habakkuk was not saying that the Law of Moses had any in it that was wrong but rather he was saying the nation and local courts are so corrupt that there is no justice for the poor and innocence.
5 Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, andwonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.
The work that God would do to punish Israel for its wickedness was that he was going to bring the Babylonians in to besiege them and take them into captivity.
Notice that Habakkuk was speaking to the Jews among the heathen (the Babylonians). The Babylonians ruling party were the Chaldeans which were descendants of Nahor and Milkah. Nahor wasAbraham's brother. See Gen 11:26-29
The Jews would have a very hard time believing such a thing from the mouth of any prophet because the Babylonians were a bunch of Pagan Idol worshippers and they thought God would not use a nation more wicked than Israel to punish her. Prophets were not usually respected while they were still alive.
These verses find their ultimate fulfilment in Christ which wasthe work that Israel as a whole did not believe even though God himself came and told it unto his own people.
The Apostle Paul led by the Holy Spirit quoted this verse to a bunch of Jews in a synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia at the onset of his ministry to the Gentiles. They didn't want to hear or believethe work God was doing theneither:
Acts 13:38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. 40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; 41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
Paul was the man then, but Habakkuk was the man (prophet) here and while Habakkuk had a hard time with the message himself the people of his day had an even harder time believing Habakkuk's message until it had come to pass.
6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. 7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.8 Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.
The Chaldeans conquered so much land so quickly because of their style of fighting a war. They mastered the art of the Blitzkrieg and used it to subdue the armies of all the nations around them.
This method however did not crush the nations will to resist as did Rome and therefore they had only a week control over their empire which would be exploited by the Medes and the Persians at a later date.
9 They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
Uh oh! There is that nasty little word that Israel will come to know all too well, captivity. Israel would be taken captive not because of the might of her enemies around her, but because of her turning her back on God and his word and the Covenant they made with him at Mount Sinai.
That covenant, which Israel and Judah broke often,was a Covenant that both parties were bound to fulfill their own part of it.
If Israelkept their part of the Covenant anddid not worship other gods then God would not have to bring in a nation more wicked than they to chastise them and bring them to theirknees until they decided to repent.
10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. 11 Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.
The pride of theBabylonians would be to believe that their god deliveredJudah into their hands and it was to be an offense unto the God of heaven andfor that reason they themselves will be defeated, which happened when the Medes and Persians over through the great BabylonianEmpire.
Notice that it says that "Then shall his mind change" this is adirect reference to Nebuchadnezzar himself as he was warned byDaniel when he builds his statue and demands all to worship it instead of the God of Heaven.
12 Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.
Habakkuk believes God that he will not utterly destroy Israel through the Babylonians and that it is Babylon that God is using to humble Israel because of her multitude of sins against God and his faithful.
13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? 14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
While what Habakkuk says is true about God in the first part of verse thirteen, the accusation leveled against God is unjust.
God is bound by his own holiness to obey the Covenant he made with Israel at Mt. Sinai to chastise his wayfaring people and he did it with the heathen just as he said he would back in Leviticus 26 which we will see shortly.
15 They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. 16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. 17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
Habakkuk was reminding God that theBabylonians were not only ungodly but that they were diametrically opposed to God. He also wanted to know how long they would rule over them.
Do you remember the story of Daniel and the three Hebrews who would not bow toNebuchadnezzar'simage?
God would use these righteous men to turn the heart of the King of Babylon towards God, who would then in turn write proclamations throughout all his kingdom to honour the God of Daniel.
God can use a Pagan nation to reach the world with his truth and all he needs is a few willing servants totrust him and then obey him as these men did and as Habakkukeventually did.
The Conditional Covenant God made with
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel):
The Promises ifIsrael will hearken to God's word:
Leviticus 26:3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. 7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. 10 And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. 11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. 13 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.
The curses ifIsrael will not hearken to God's word:
Leviticus 26:14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; 15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: 16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. 18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: 20 And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. 21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. 22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate. 23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; 24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. 25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26 And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. 27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; 28 Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. 29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. 30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. 31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. 32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. 33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. 34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. 35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it. 36 And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth. 37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. 38 And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. 40 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; 41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: 42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. 43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes. 44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God. 45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD. 46 These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.
Habakkuk should not have questioned God's dealings with the nation of Israel because they were in complete harmony with the Covenant they had made with him back at Sinai.