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HABAKKUK
INTRODUCTION
Near the time of the transition from the Assyrian to the Babylonian empires (late 7th century BC), the prophet Habakkuk engaged in a profound dialogue with Israel’s God. The form of his book is a short series of complaints, or laments, followed by the divine responses. When Habakkuk’s cries are answered, he closes with a hymn of confidence in God’s expected victory.
The prophet begins by asking how long God will allow evil to triumph. The divine reply is that God is raising up the Babylonians as his tool of correction. This leads to Habakkuk’s second question: Why do you allow the wicked to swallow up those more righteous than themselves? God replies again, explaining that the Babylonians will be judged just like the Assyrians, and that the righteous must await this in faith and patience. The inevitability of Babylon’s doom is emphasized when God pronounces a series of five woes against it.
When Habakkuk’s dialogue with God concludes, the book moves to what is called A prayer of Habakkuk. But its musical notations reveal that it is clearly meant to be sung. Habakkuk celebrates God’s dramatic intervention for Israel in the past and prays that God will do it again. The prophet resolves in the meantime to wait patiently for God’s coming.
www.bible.com/zh-TW/bible/111/HAB.INTRO1.NIV
Habakkuk 1 (ESV)
1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
The Lord’s Answer
5 “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are dreaded and fearsome;
their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
more fierce than the evening wolves;
their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
9 They all come for violence,
all their faces forward.
They gather captives like sand.
10 At kings they scoff,
and at rulers they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress,
for they pile up earth and take it.
11 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
guilty men, whose own might is their god!”
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12 Are you not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment,
and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors
and remain silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?
REFLECTION:
- The prophet Habakkuk was born in the turbulent era of Jehoiakim. He saw the corruption of national politics and religion, and he also understood the sinfulness of the world. He cried out to God for a long time, but God seemed to hide His face, so he fell into a faith struggle.
- The prophet shouted to God, lamenting that God did not answer his prayer and save him from evil (2). He expressed his inner struggle with two “why” questions (3). He did not understand why the holy God saw the collapse of faith and the decline of morals but did not take action. He angrily shouted “justice goes forth perverted” in protest (4).
- However, God’s answer shocked the prophet. God used the cruel Babylonians as a tool for the punishment of His people. God first pointed out that He raised up the Babylonians to punish the people as He had already said, but the people did not believe (5); then, God pointed out the military power of the Babylonians (6-10); finally, God even pointed out that the Babylonians will be punished by Him for they worship their own might as their god.
- Habakkuk was surprised that God used the Babylonians to punish the kingdom of Judah, because this nation is far more corrupt than the Judah (13). On the other hand, the Babylonians did not know that God used them to punish the kingdom of Judah in order to turn the people back. They will be dazzled by victory, and as a result they will also embark on the road of destruction. The wicked will perish on their own and will never escape from the hand of God. God may use very special tools to correct us and punish us. If we really need to be corrected or punished, how can we blame God’s tools?
PRAYER:
Dear God! The world is full of injustices, why do You seem to sit idly by? The wicked are in power, the deceitful gain wealth, but the honest are oppressed, don’t You care? Although I don’t understand many things, I firmly believe that You are a righteous and loving God, and one day You will have a fair judgment.
HYMN:
All of Our Tomorrows – youtu.be/U_cN89lN7RM
