Habakkuk

1. Habakkuk questioned God’s justice (1.1-11). The prophet was distressed because the powerful oppressed the righteous; in his mind, this was why “the law is ineffective and justice never emerges” (v. 4). In the end the prophet proposed that justice itself was perverted (v. 5). It may be that Habakkuk was surprised to hear that the LORD had raised up the Chaldeans as an instrument of justice upon the powerful in Judah. Even though the Chaldeans were guilty of making their strength their god (v. 11), they were merely God’s means of accomplishing His ends with Judah
2. Habakkuk questioned God’s use of the wicked as an instrument of justice (1.12-2.20). This reality puzzled the prophet. How could God—who is Just—overlook the wickedness of the Chaldeans? Habakkuk lamented, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate those who are treacherous?” (v. 13). The Chaldeans had taken nations captive like a fisherman uses a hook to reel in his catch, so the prophet asked, “Will they therefore empty their net and continually slaughter nations without mercy?” (v. 17). Habakkuk was so confident in his plea that he said, “I will watch to see what He will say to me and what I should reply about my complaint” (2.1). The LORD did not delay in answering, telling the prophet that there would be a delay before the Chaldeans would exasperate their love of destruction, and likewise be destroyed; in the meantime He said that “the righteous one will live by his faith” (2.4). Assured that the LORD was not rewarding the wickedness of the Chaldeans, the faithful Habakkuk pronounced five ‘woe oracles’ against them (vv. 6-20)
3. Habakkuk recognized God’s superiority (3.1-19). Enlightened to the unfolding of God’s justice, the prophet was yet concerned for the here-and-now situation of Judah, and prayed: “LORD, I stand in awe of Your deeds. Revive Your work in these years; make it known in these years. In Your wrath remember mercy!” Habakkuk praised the LORD for His superiority over all of creation, and thus the nations: “You march across the earth with indignation; You trample down the nations in wrath. You come out to save Your people, to save Your anointed. You crush the leader of the house of the wicked and strip him from foot to neck” (vv. 12-13). While the prophet longed to see the day of justice against the Chaldeans, he was forced to wait; his vow is the definition of faith (cf. 2.4): “Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, thought the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will triumph in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!” (vv. 17-18)

1. In Hab 1.5-11 the prophet recorded God’s answer to his inquiry about the apparent discrepancy between His covenant loyalty to His people and the rise of the Babylonian empire. The LORD said to Habakkuk: “Look! I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter, impetuous nation that marches across the earth’s open spaces to seize territories not its own” (v. 6). The Apostle Paul employed the words of the prophet when preaching in Antioch of Pisidia during his first missionary journey. There he preached a review of the history of salvation from the captivity of Israel in Egypt to the rule of King David to the resurrection of Jesus. Paul argued that Jesus’ resurrection demonstrated His superiority even over Israel’s great king David, and employed Habakkuk 1.5 as evidence that his listeners should believe upon Him:

2. In Hab 2.2-5 the prophet recorded God’s answer to his second prayer, when he asked how God could work through a wicked nation like the Chaldeans in order to accomplish His holy will. The LORD replied, “The vision is yet for the appointed time; it testifies about the end and will not lie. Though it delays, wait for it, since it will certainly come and not be late. Look, his ego is inflated; he is without integrity. But the righteous one will live by his faith” (vv. 3-4). In the LORD’s declaration of what would happen to the Chaldeans—and how His people should live in the meantime—the authors of the New Testament saw themes that applied to their audiences. The Apostle Paul wrote the Romans: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’” (Rom 1.16-17). Paul employed Habakkuk’s words to help unify the divergent Jew/Gentile audience in Rome; those counted righteous in Christ (1.8), Jew or Gentile, were urged to hold tightly to their faith in Christ—lest their national distinctions pull them apart (cf. 15.1-7). The churches of Galatia were influenced by those who argued that Gentiles needed to show their justification/spirituality by observing the identity markers of Judaism (i.e., circumcision, Sabbath-keeping, and food laws); Paul instructed them from a Christian interpretation of Habakkuk, urging them to be faithful to their faith, saying: “All who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue doing everything written in the book of the law.’ Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because ‘the righteous will live by faith’” (Gal 3.10-11).  The author to the Hebrews likewise saw in Hab 2.4 instruction for his audience—those who needed to persevere in their current struggles as outcasts of the synagogue community (cf. Jn 9.34), and exiled from the social and financial securities available in the mainstream Roman culture. Habakkuk urged his audience to trust in the LORD for vindication in the day when He destroyed their enemies, and the author to the Hebrews wished the same for his readers; he exhorted them:

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