HABAKKUK
The Minor Prophets:
Habakkuk 1
HABAKKUK, from a Hebrew root meaning to "embrace," denoting a "favorite" (namely, of God) and a "struggler" (for his country's good). Some ancient authors represent him as belonging to the tribe of Levi; others [PSEUDO EPIPHANIUS], to that of Simeon. The inscription to Bel and the dragon in the Septuagint asserts the former; and Habakkuk 3:19 perhaps favors this. The time seems to have been about 610 B.C. For the Chaldeans attacked Jerusalem in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim, 605 B.C. ( 2 Kings 24:1 ; 2 Chronicles 36:6 ; Jeremiah 46:2 ; 36:9 ( Habakkuk 1:5 Habakkuk 1:6 speaks of the Chaldeans as about to invade Judah, but not as having actually done so. In the second chapter he proceeds to comfort his people by foretelling the humiliation of their conquerors, and that the vision will soon have its fulfilment. In the third chapter the prophet in a sublime ode celebrates the deliverances wrought by Jehovah for His people in times past, as the ground of assurance, notwithstanding all their existing calamities, that He will deliver them again. Habakkuk 3:16 arrived; so that the whole refers to the invasion in Jehoiakim's times, not those under Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. The Apocryphal appendix to Daniel states that he lived to see the Babylonian exile (588 B.C), which accords with his prophesying early in Jehoiakim's reign, about 610 B.C.
1 The divine revelation that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
2 How long, O LORD(Jesus), must I call for help? But you do not listen! "Violence!" I cry, but you do not come to save.
3 Must I forever see this sin and misery all around me? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight.
4 Therefore the law is powerless, And justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore perverse judgment proceeds.
5 Look among the nations and watch. Be amazed and astonished. I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if it were reported to you.
Quoted by Paul ( Acts 13:41 ). among the heathen--In Acts 13:41 , "ye despisers," from the Septuagint. So the Syriac and Arabic versions; perhaps from a different Hebrew reading. In the English Version reading of Habakkuk, God, in reply to the prophet's expostulation, addresses the Jews as about to be punished, "Behold ye among the heathen (with whom ye deserve to be classed, and by whom ye shall be punished, as despisers; the sense implied, which Paul expresses): learn from them what ye refused to learn from Me!" For "wonder marvellously," Paul, in Acts 13:41 , has, "wonder and perish," which gives the sense, not the literal wording, of the Hebrew, "Wonder, wonder," that is, be overwhelmed in wonder. The despisers are to be given up to their own stupefaction, and so perish. The Israelite unbelievers would not credit the prophecy as to the fearfulness of the destruction to be wrought by the Chaldeans, nor afterwards the deliverance promised from that nation. So analogously, in Paul's day, the Jews would not credit the judgment coming on them by the Romans, nor the salvation proclaimed through Jesus. Thus the same Scripture applied to both.
6 I am going to send the Babylonians, that fierce and reckless nation. They will march throughout the earth to take possession of lands that don't belong to them.
7 They will be terrifying and fearsome. They will carry out their own kind of justice and honor.
8 Their horses will be faster than leopards and quicker than wolves in the evening. Their riders will gallop along proudly. Their riders will come from far away. They will fly like an eagle that swoops down for its prey.
9 They will all come for violence. Every face will be directed forward. They will gather prisoners like sand.
10 They will make fun of kings and treat rulers as a joke. They will laugh at every fortified city and build a dirt ramp to capture it.
11 They will move quickly and pass through like the wind. So they will be guilty, because their own strength is their god.
12 Didn't you exist before time began, O LORD(Jesus), my God, my Holy One? We will not die! O LORD(Jesus), you have appointed the Babylonians to bring judgment. O Rock, you have destined them to correct us.
13 You are perfectly just in this. But will you, who cannot allow sin in any form, stand idly by while they swallow us up? Should you be silent while the wicked destroy people who are more righteous than they?
14 Why do You make men like fish of the sea, Like creeping things that have no ruler over them?
15 The Babylonians pull them all up with fishhooks, drag them away in nets, and gather them in dragnets. So they rejoice and are happy.
16 That is why they sacrifice to their nets and burn incense to their dragnets. They are rich and well fed because of them.
17 Will they keep on emptying their nets and always kill nations without mercy?
Habakkuk 2
1 I will stand at my guard post. I will station myself on the wall. I will watch to see what he will say to me and what answer I will get to my complaint.
2 Then the LORD(Jesus) answered me, Write the vision. Make it clear on tablets so that anyone can read it quickly.
3 The vision will still happen at the appointed time. It hurries toward its goal. It won't be a lie. If it's delayed, wait for it. It will certainly happen. It won't be late.
4 Look at the proud person. He is not right in himself. But the righteous person will live because of his faithfulness.
5 Also because wine is treacherous he is arrogant and never rests. He has a large appetite like the grave(sheol). He is like death--never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself. He collects all the people to himself.
6 But the time is coming when all their captives will taunt them, saying, 'You thieves! At last justice has caught up with you! Now you will get what you deserve for your oppression and extortion!'
7 Suddenly, your debtors will rise up in anger. They will turn on you and take all you have, while you stand trembling and helpless.
8 You have plundered many nations; now they will plunder you. You murderers! You have filled the countryside with violence and all the cities, too.
9 Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house, That he may set his nest on high, That he may be delivered from the power of disaster!
Woe--The "derisive song" here begins, and continues to the end of the chapter. It is a symmetrical whole, and consists of five stanzas, the first three consisting of three verses each, the fourth of four verses, and the last of two. Each stanza has its own subject, and all except the last begin with "Woe"; and all have a closing verse introduced with "for," "because," or "but." (Jamieson)
10 You have planned disgrace for your household by cutting off many people and forfeiting your own life.
11 A stone in the wall will cry out. A beam in the roof will answer it.
12 Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, Who establishes a city by iniquity(sin)!
13 Isn't it from the LORD(Jesus) of Hosts that people grow tired only to feed the flames and nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
is it not of the Lord of hosts--JEHOVAH, who has at His command all the hosts of heaven and earth, is the righteous author of Babylon's destruction. "Shall not God have His turn, when cruel rapacious men have triumphed so long, though He seem now to be still?" [CALVIN].
14 But the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD(Jesus)'s glory like the water covers the sea.
Adapted from Isaiah 11:9 . Here the sense is, "The Jews shall be restored and the temple rebuilt, so that God's glory in saving His people, and punishing their Chaldean foe, shall be manifested throughout the world," of which the Babylonian empire formed the greatest part; a type of the ultimate full manifestation of His glory in the final salvation of Israel and His Church, and the destruction of all their foes. (Jamieson)
15 How horrible it will be for the one who makes his neighbor drink from the bowl of God's rage, making him drunk in order to stare at his nakedness.'
16 You are filled with shame instead of glory. You also--drink! And be exposed as uncircumcised! The cup of the LORD's(Jesus) right hand will be turned against you, And utter shame will be on your glory.
17 The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction done to the animals will terrify you because of the slaughter and violence done to lands, cities, and all their inhabitants.
18 What have you gained by worshiping all your man-made idols? How foolish to trust in something made by your own hands! What fools you are to believe such lies!
19 'How horrible it will be for the one who says to a piece of wood, "Wake up!" and to a stone that cannot talk, "Get up!"' Can that thing teach [anyone]? Just look at it! It's covered with gold and silver, but there's absolutely no life in it."
20 The LORD(Jesus) is in His Holy Temple. All the earth should be silent in his presence.
Habakkuk 3
HABAKKUK'S PRAYER TO GOD:
1 A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk; according to shigionoth.
2 LORD(Jesus), I have heard the report about you. LORD(Jesus), I fear your work. In the course of the years, renew it. In the course of the years, reveal it. In all this chaos, remember to be merciful.
3 God(Eloah) comes from Teman. The Holy One comes from Mount Paran. Selah His splendor covers the heavens. His praise fills the earth.
God--singular in the Hebrew, "Eloah," instead of "Elohim," plural, usually employed. The singular is not found in any other of the minor prophets, or Jeremiah, or Ezekiel; but it is in Isaiah, Daniel, Job, and Deuteronomy.
4 Rays of brilliant light flash from his hands. He rejoices in his awesome power.
5 Diseases go ahead of him. Plagues follow after him.
6 When he stops, the earth shakes. When he looks, the nations tremble. He shatters the everlasting mountains and levels the eternal hills. But his power is not diminished in the least!
7 I see trouble in the tents of Cushan. I see trembling in the tents of Midian.
8 Was it in anger, LORD(Jesus) that you struck the rivers and parted the sea? Were you displeased with them? No, you were sending your chariots of salvation!
9 You get your bow ready for action, for the arrows [you] promised. Selah You split the land with rivers.
10 The mountains look at you. They writhe in pain. Floodwaters pass by. The deep ocean roars. Its waves rise up high.
11 The lofty sun and moon began to fade, obscured by brilliance from your arrows and the flashing of your glittering spear.
12 You march through the earth with fury. You trample the nations in anger.
13 You go out to save your people, to save your anointed. You crush the leader of the wicked household, stripping him bare from head to toe. Selah
Selah--a musical sign, put at the close of sections and strophes, always at the end of a verse, except thrice; namely, here, and Habakkuk 3:9 , and Psalms 55:19 , 57:3 , where, however, it closes the hemistich. It implies a change of the modulation. It comes from a root to "rest" or "pause" [GESENIUS]; implying a cessation of the chant, during an instrumental interlude. The solemn pause here prepares the mind for contemplating the glorious description of Jehovah's manifestation which follows.
anointed--with Messiah; of whom Moses, Joshua, and David, God's anointed leaders of Israel, were the types ( Psalms 89:19 Psalms 89:20 Psalms 89:38 ). God from the beginning delivered His people in person, or by the hand of a Mediator ( Isaiah 63:11 ). Thus Habakkuk confirms believers in the hope of their deliverance, as well because God is always the same, as also because the same anointed Mediator is ready now to fulfil God's will and interpose for Israel, as of old [CALVIN]. MAURER translates to suit the parallelism, "for salvation to Thine anointed," namely, Israel's king in the abstract, answering to the "people" in the former clause (compare Psalms 28:8 , Lamentations 4:20 ). Or Israel is meant, the anointed, that is, consecrated people of Jehovah ( Psalms 105:15 ).
14 With their own weapons, you destroyed those who rushed out like a tornado, thinking Israel would be easy prey.
15 You march with your horses into the sea, into the mighty raging waters.
16 I have heard, so there's trembling within me. At the report my lips quivered. A rotten feeling has entered me. I tremble where I stand. I wait for the day of trouble to come to the people who will attack us.
17 Even if the fig tree does not bloom and the vines have no grapes, even if the olive tree fails to produce and the fields yield no food, even if the sheep pen is empty and the stalls have no cattle--
18 even then, I will be happy with the LORD(Jesus). I will truly find joy in God, who saves me.
19 The LORD(Jesus) Almighty is my strength. He makes my feet like those of a deer. He makes me walk on the mountains. For the choir director; on stringed instruments.
