STUDY THEME: “THAT’S ENCOURAGING.”
“ENCOURAGED BY FAITHFUL HOPE.”
HABAKKUK 1: 2-4, 5-6, 12-13; 2:2-4, 18-20; 3:17-19a
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO HABAKKUK 1.
The message of the prophet Habakkuk relates well to life as we experience it today. Just as in the time of the prophet Habakkuk, who lived long ago, violence characterizes our world too. Some wonder where God is in the midst of such evils as terrorism, war, child abduction, natural disasters, and corporate scandal. Others conclude belief in God is nothing more than an escape mechanism for the simple-minded.
In contrast, the Bible shows that God is at work in and through world events to accomplish His purposes. As we see from His response to Habakkuk, God may not act when and how believers desire. But we can be confident of His loving care and His ultimate victory over evil. We can be encouraged in knowing that God offers hope in the midst of a violent world. He will act in His time and way to accomplish His will.
Habakkuk is one of the mystery-shrouded prophets of the O.T. Besides having one of the hardest-to-pronounce names in the Bible (Hu-BAK-kuk), He is also one of the most elusive, being mentioned only twice in the Bible and never outside his own book. Both times it mentions his name, the Bible identifies Habakkuk as a “prophet” (1:1; 3:1).
Habakkuk wrote sometime after Babylon (Chaldea) had risen to power, but before Babylon attacked Judah. According to historians, the Babylonians conquered Assyria in 612 BC and began attacking Judah within a few years.
Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah. His thoughts are laid bare by the searching questions he asked. His name means “one who embraces or clings” and pictures Habakkuk’s efforts to bring together God and people. It also shows his faith in clinging to God whatever should happen to his nation or to him. (3:17-19) Habakkuk prophesied as God was preparing to sweep His rebellious people into the Babylonian captivity (1:5-6). He spoke of the devastating judgment God would send on Judah and then in turn on Babylon, the rod He would use to chasten His people.
One of the shortest books of Scripture---the prophecy of Habakkuk—contains important truth which no reverent student of the Word of God can afford to overlook. Brief as it is, it is directly referred to, or quotations made from it, a number of times in the N.T.
PLEASE READ HABAKKUK 1: 2-4.
In a few graphic touches Habakkuk depicts, as by a master hand, the various evils afflicting the unhappy nation Judah. He takes no delight in terms portraying the sins of those so tenderly loved. It is into the ear of God, not of man, that he pours his complaint.
Could it be that his payer was to go unheeded? If not, how long must he wait until the Lord gave evidence that He had heard and was about to interfere? He felt, as many another has done, that it were better not to see the evil than to see it only to be burdened thereby, finding no remedy for the same that so distressed his sensitive soul.
As Habakkuk looked at his homeland, the country of Judah, he saw that the rich, and powerful, were getting away with corruption. Society around him was marked by violence and injustice and oppression and wrongdoing and strife and conflict. All these terms are different ways of describing the outrageous sins rampant in the land. The term violence summarizes them all, and all of them piled together suggest the nightmare of wickedness in Habakkuk’s day. It was more than he could bear. Sin was committed brazenly, right in front of the prophet. Evil was ongoing. In fact, it was getting worse: conflict escalates.
On the one hand, the power brokers in society were wicked. Instead of encouraging the righteous to do what was fair and good, they were making it hard on them. The poor were getting cheated. In the words of the prophet, justice comes out perverted. Justice never prevails. Habakkuk was open and honest to pray this way. His words do not express a lack of faith or giving up on God. He understood his relationship to God clearly enough to know that he could express his concern freely without sinning against Him.
On the other hand, God seemed to be doing nothing to restrain wickedness. In vs. 2 the prophet protested to God that he had long cried out about violence, but God had done nothing to save the righteous from the violent.
The prophet also voiced his concern that God apparently didn’t listen to him. Thus, the opening to his prayer is like a sigh or complaint: How long, Lord, must I call for help? These words are often asked about prayers that seem not to be answered or even heard; how long?
The last part of vs. 3 lists four results of sin that troubled the prophet: destruction,… violence…strife…contention. These words picture a lawless society. Each line of vs. 4 makes the sins more specific. In the law is slacked, slacked is a word meaning to be cold or numb.” The law is “paralyzed”.
The law of God gave much attention to ensuring justice, but the law was paralyzed into inaction. Although God had clearly decreed justice, “justice never prevails.” Instead of a just society, they had a corrupt, unjust society. The reason for this was that the wicked doth compass about the righteous or “the wicked hem in the righteous.” The well-to-do members of society were often the most wicked and underhanded. Thus the rich often use their positions to overwhelm the righteous poor. Therefore “justice is perverted.”
Habakkuk was open and honest to pray this way. His words do not express a lack of faith or giving up on God. He understood his relationship to God clearly enough to know that he could express his concern freely without sinning against Him.
Habakkuk’s questions were reverent prayers to God. God accepts sincere questions addressed to Him with reverence and trust. He condemns cynical questions spoken to other people. We see the difference in how God answered Habakkuk.
PLEASE READ HABAKKUK 1: 5-6.
Habakkuk’s first question was essentially the question nearly everyone asks at times. Why does God allow evil people to get by with mistreating good people? God responds to this question in a variety of ways. Seldom does He offer a careful and complete explanation of what He does or what He doesn’t do. God accepted Habakkuk’s words in vs. 2-4 as a sincere prayer, so He revealed to the prophet a part of the answer to his concern about the injustice, sin, and violence of his own people. Habakkuk no doubt was at first pleased to hear the words, “For something is taking place in your days”. God was working after all! But Habakkuk would be utterly astounded to see how God would punish the wicked. God warned Habakkuk that he would not believe the method God would use to bring judgment on the evildoers.
These vs. 5-6 are the Lord’s answer to Habakkuk’s concern. God will not allow evil and injustice to go on forever. Sooner or later there will be a reckoning, for God in His very nature is just. God had a plan to deal with it---yet one that would cause the prophet to be utterly astounded. God would choose to work through the nations to accomplish His purposes for Judah. As sovereign God, He moves in the affairs of nations and people to accomplish His purposes.
Habakkuk was invited to observe, and in all probability the prophet lived to see the fulfillment of God’s promise. The prophecy would involve something soon---in your days---and unexpected---that you will not believe.
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Because God is Holy, He cannot approve evil or iniquity. Everything about the holy God is opposed to sin. How then could He look upon them that deal treacherously, an obvious reference to the Babylonians? How could God use the wicked to devour the man that is more righteous than he? Some of the Israelites had sinned, but their sins paled by comparison to the evil of the Babylonians. Habakkuk was deeply disturbed by God’s plan to use this heathen nation to overcome Judah. And true to his past practice, Habakkuk asked the Lord about this. The word translated look in the question means more than to gaze at something. It means to “look with approval.” The second question in vs. 13 assumed that God approved because God held His tongue: “Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” Vs. 14-17 expand on the cruelty and idolatry of these evil people called Babylonians.
Why do bad things happen to good people? We don’t know, but we can trust God to bring good into our lives. In the case of Habakkuk, God worked through judgment to produce a purified remnant. How we respond to suffering is most important.
PLEASE MOVE TO HABAKKUK 2.
PLEASE READ HABAKKUK 2: 2-4.
Habakkuk’s first question had been, “God, why is unrighteousness in Judah flourishing? God’s answer was, “I will punish this evil through the Babylonians.” The second question was, “God, how can You use the more evil (Babylon) to punish he less evil (Judah)?”
Receiving no immediate answer to this new dilemma, Habakkuk in vs. 1 resolved to wait for God to respond to his question and to prepare his own response to God’s response. As Habakkuk waited, God told him, “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.”
If this is the correct translation, it means that the message is important enough to be heralded abroad. This instruction may also be translated “Write it clearly enough to be read at a glance.” The meaning would be that the writing would so large that a passerby could read it.
The time of fulfillment of the vision was yet for an appointed time. That is, the time was still in the future: but it was sure to come because God appointed the time. Habakkuk was told, “Wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
At the time God designated, judgment will certainly come on Babylon and would not be late. Daniel 5 records God’s judgment on Babylon, which occurred about 539 BC, more than 60 years after Habakkuk’s prophesy.
Babylon would be destroyed, not only for it’s wicked deeds, but also for it’s evil intentions. Because his ego is inflated and he is without integrity, he will be judged.
Vs. 4 contrasts two kinds of people. The person who is lifted up is not upright in him. People who are puffed up with pride and self-importance are not righteous in the sight of God. At this point the Lord was thinking of the arrogant Babylonians, but it would also apply to the proud in Judah. By contrast, the righteous shall live by his faith. Christians are familiar with the last part of vs. 4 because Paul quoted it in Rom. 1:17 and Gal. 3: 11 to teach justification by faith.
PLEASE READ HABAKKUK 2: 18-20.
Habakkuk 2:6-20 pronounces five woes on the invading Babylonians. They would ride high for a while, but their sins would eventually bring them down. In vs 6-8 the Lord condemned them for greed and violence; vs. 9-11 for a false sense of security; vs. 12-14 for disregard for human life; vs. 15-17 for corruption of one’s neighbors; and 18-20 for Idolatry. The Babylonians had many gods and had images for each one. They mocked the Jews for their invisible God for whom they had no images. The Jews in turn mocked the man-made gods of idol worshippers.
Jeremiah 2:13 referred to idols as broken cisterns. The people had rejected God, who was like a fountain of water, and they had trusted in idols, which were like cisterns with holes in them. When thirsty people turn to broken cisterns, they find none of the water they seek and need.
In Habakkuk 2: 18-19 the prophet sarcastically showed the foolishness of idolatry. How stupid it was for a carved idol to be worshiped by the very craftsmen who carves it! How utterly useless it was for a cast image to be trusted in by the one who crafts its shape!
The one who trusts in idols that cannot speak or suppose that mute stone has the possibility of coming alive is trusting in the wrong thing. Such a religion is a teacher of lies. Habakkuk asked, Can it teach? The answer is, Never! Of course, there was a certain hideous beauty attached to many idols. The statues were plated with gold and silver. But no one should mistake beauty for truth. No matter how exquisite the workmanship that went into idols and their temples---ancient or modern---- here is no breath in it at all. The truth is found only in the living God.
The righteous, who have faith in God and live a life of faithfulness to God have chosen His way. They have chosen the way of the true, and living Lord. He is the Lord who is in His holy temple.
The idols of false religions are silent before those who would worship them. Nevertheless, everyone on earth must be silent in God’s presence when He judges. No one can successfully raise an objection to what God accomplishes in the end. People of faith---such as Habakkuk and believers of today---may express their concerns to Him. People without faith may shake their fists in His face. But ultimately God’s intention is that “every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment.” (Rom. 3:19)
God had shown patience toward Habakkuk and his questions. He had answered some of the questions, but He also reminded the prophet and his readers that silence is a proper response to the awesome God who reigns over all.
PLEASE MOVE TO HABAKKUK CHAPTER 3.
PLEASE READ HABAKKUK 3: 17-19a.
After the Lord answered the prophet’s questions, he was completely satisfied. Habakkuk’s response has become a model for God’s people throughout the ages: worship through reverent prayer. All of Habakkuk 3 is a wonderful poetic prayer in which ringing confidence in God is expressed. God had warned him that the Babylonians were coming. The circumstances in Judah would become grim. Yet the Lord’s holiness would cause Him to bring Babylon to judgment. The prophet confessed his trust in the Lord.
In vs. 17 the prophet outlined a number of disasters that might occur to devastate an agricultural society. Famine could cause these things. So could the coming of an invading army, such as the Babylonians. The first four disasters focused on disruption of the cycle of plant life. He mentioned four sources of food staples for the ancient Israelite diet: fig trees, vines, olive crop, and fields. Without figs for the sweetness and grapes for wine and olives for cooking oil and wheat or barley for bread, there would be little way to lead a normal life. Disaster might overtake the herds as well. The prophet envisioned the complete loss of the domestic animals used for food and clothing. Sheep in the pen might be lost, and cattle in the stalls might die or be stolen.
Because the prophet had experienced the reality of God’s answer to him in 2:4, the circumstances were of secondary importance. Habakkuk’s strong statement of hope in God, despite evil and suffering, is one of the greatest declarations in Scripture. It is the O.T. equivalent of Paul’s powerful affirmation in Rom. 8:28 where he wrote “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”
Habakkuk closed with five truths. The first two are his response to the Lord’s greatness: the third one is about the Lord’s power: and the last two are about what the Lord would do for him. “I will exult in the Lord,” expresses that he was completely satisfied with God rather than with God’s gifts. “I will rejoice in the God of my salvation,” shows that he had personally experienced God. Salvation wasn’t abstract for Habakkuk. When he received salvation, he received God, and this brought him joy.
“The Lord my Lord is my strength,” was Habakkuk’s confession that God would be strong for those who confess that they are weak and rely solely on Him. “He makes my feet like those of a deer,” is a beautiful picture of confidence in God during life’s journey, for deer are quite agile creatures.
Finally, “God enables me to tread on mountain heights,” which recalls David’s certain hope in God when the Lord delivered him in Ps. 18:33. Although the circumstances were conspiring to take the prophet into the valley of despair, his absolute confidence in God enabled him to ascend the pinnacle of hope.
Trust in God is the one sure way to experience hope in your heart, no matter what your circumstances may be. A.V. DAUGHERTY altav@swbell.net 7-25-04
NEXT WEEK WE BEGIN A FIVE LESSON SERIES ON “PETER’S PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESSFUL LIVING.” OF COURSE WE BEGIN BY “KNOWING JESUS.”