Lecture 14; Habakkuk

7th Century
Habakkuk 630
Zephaniah 627
Obadiah ?
Joel ?
8th Century
Amos 760
Hosea 746
Micah 725
Jonah?
Exile / Post-exile
Nahum 593
Haggai 520
Zechariah 520
Malachi 515

The Minor Prophets
Do you know what
you are doing?

The title comes from a Hebrew root word for "to embrace."
However whether the embracing is to be taken in an active
(the embracer) or passive (the embraced) sense, remains a
mystery to us.
628
Title

Habakkuk is
not known
outside 1:1
that simply
describes
him as "the
prophet."
628
Author

The time of the writing of is debated from:
• 700 BC (too early since Assyrians are in view)
• 300 BC (too late since Greek forces are in view)
•The prophecy names Babylonian invaders (1:6) so it
was likely written near the end of Josiah's reign (640-
609 BC), probably after the 612 BC destruction of
Nineveh by the combined forces of the Babylonians,
Medians, and Scythians. This time was 607-605 BC.
628
Date

An Evil End to Judah
Jehoahaz
(Shallum)
609
(3 mos.)
Josiah
640-609
(31 yrs.)
Jehoiakim
(Eliakim)
609-597
(11 yrs.)
256
Good king in white
Evil kings in yellow
1
2
3
Evil kings caused the prophet's first perplexity:
"How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you
do not listen? Or cry out to you, 'Violence!' but
you do not save?" (Hab. 1:2).

How should we deal
with injustice right inside
the family of faith?
Key Word for Habakkuk: Faith
Have faith that God will address
this issue in his time and way.

Book Chart Habakkuk: Babylon's Destruction
Chapters 1–2 Chapter 3
Punishment of Babylon Praise Song
Habakkuk's Perplexity Habakkuk's Praise
God's Actions Challenged God's Actions Commended
Faith Troubled Faith Triumphant
Problem Resolution
Habakkuk God Habakkuk God Habakkuk
Why aren't
you judging
Judah's sin,
God?
I will. I'll
judge Judah
with the
Babylonians!
But can you
use a nation
more
wicked than
Judah?
Sure, but
I'll judge
them too.
In wrath
remember
mercy.
Our God
is an
awesome
God!
I'll wait
patiently
for
Babylon's
judgment
and rejoice
in God.
1:1-4 1:5-11 1:12–2:1 2:2-20 3:1-2 3:3-15 3:16-19
Judah
c. 607-605 BC
627

Habakkuk 1:3
"Why must I
look on
injustice?"

Habakkuk 1:5-11: God's
Unexpected Response
 I will use the
Chaldeans
(Babylonians)
to punish the
ungodly
nation of
Israel.

Habakkuk 1:6
"I am raising up the Babylonians,
that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth to
seize dwelling places not their own."

Mediterranean
Sea Syria
Egypt
Babylonian Expansion
Israel
Persian
Gulf
Judah
Babylon
586 BC
The Babylonian Threat

(Neo-Babylonian Empire)
625-539 BC

Waiting for an Answer (Hab. 2:1)
"I will stand on my
guard post And
station myself on the
rampart; And I will
keep watch to see
what He will speak to
me, And how I may
reply when I am
reproved."

Habakkuk 2:1
1. Greed (2:6-8)
2. Exploitation (2:9-11)

Habakkuk 2:9
"Woe to him who
builds his realm by
unjust gain to set
his nest on high, to
escape the
clutches of ruin!"

Habakkuk 2:1
1. Greed (2:6-8)
3. Violence (2:12-14)

Habakkuk 2:14
“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the LORD,
as the waters cover the sea.”
– Habakkuk 2:14

Habakkuk 2:14 = Psalm 2:8?
“Ask of me,
and I will make
the nations your
inheritance,
the ends of the
earth your
possession.”
Ps. 2:8 NLT

Habakkuk 2:1
1. Greed (2:6-8)
3. Violence (2:12-14)
4. Immorality (2:15-17)

Habakkuk 2:15
"Woe to him who gives
drink to his neighbors,
pouring it from the
wineskin till they are
drunk, so that he can gaze
on their naked bodies."

Habakkuk 2:1
1. Greed (2:6-8)
3. Violence (2:12-14)
4. Immorality (2:15-17)
5. Idolatry (2:18-20)

Self-made idols are worthless
Watcha doin'
up here, Kid?
…Just enjoying
God's creation.
Have you
ever seen
God?
Nope.
Then how do
you know he
even exists?
I just
know.
… It's called "faith."
It must take incredible faith to
believe in a God you can't see.
Not
really.
THAT, takes incredible faith.

Habakkuk 3:1-2
“A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.
2LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.”

Habakkuk 3:17 Expected Budding

Hab. 3:17-18
"Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the
vines, though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the
pen and no cattle in the stalls,
18yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior."

I heard and my heart pounded,
my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones, and
my legs trembled. Yet I will wait
patiently for the day of calamity
to come on the nation invading
us (Hab. 3:16).
BABYLON FELL (539 BC)
Cyrus entered under the water gates
Daniel 5
(Belshazzar's Feast)

Habakkuk 3:18
"yet I will rejoice
in the LORD,
I will be joyful in
God my Savior."

Habakkuk 3:19
“The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
He enables me to go on the heights.”
– Habakkuk 3:19

God's Sovereignty
God is sovereign over nature and nations. When the Lord
appears in splendor, all of nature, including the mountains
(3:6, 10), waters (3:10), and the sun and moon (3:11),
responds in fear. The Lord controls the destinies of nations,
including even the mighty Babylonians, whom He would raise
up (1:6) and then judge (2:4-20; 3:3-15). Neither the nations
(2:13) nor their lifeless gods (2:18-20) can resist His
sovereign authority and will. The Lord is the "Holy One"
(1:12), who sits enthroned over the earth (2:20), a fact that
everyone will someday acknowledge (2:14).
Theology of Habakkuk

God as Warrior
Habakkuk's vision of the LORD Almighty, or LORD of Armies
(2:13), is one of the most vivid and detailed portrayals of
God as warrior. Armed with the elements of the storm and
accompanied by pestilence (3:4-5), the LORD appears in
anger and causes the entire world to shake with fright
(3:6-7, 10-11). Like an ancient Near Eastern warrior-king,
the LORD rides on a horse-drawn chariot (3:8, 15), employs
arrows and spears (3:9, 11, 14), and pierces the head of
his enemy (3:13-14).

God as Judge
Since the Lord's "eyes are too pure to look on evil" (1:13), He had to
judge these sins of injustice against others:
2. However, the Babylonians were a
proud and unjust nation that greedily
built its empire by exploiting and
robbing other nations. Once He had
used the Babylonians for His
purposes, the Lord would judge them
as well.
1. Since Judah was plagued by violence
and a disregard for God's standards,
the covenant curses would be
implemented against the nation (cf.
1:5-11) through the Babylonians as
God's instrument of judgment.

Even though the Babylonian invasion would devastate the
land of Judah (3:17), the righteous, who had suffered under
the oppression of the unjust (1:4), would be preserved
because of their loyalty to God (2:4; 3:18-19). Through the
righteous the LORD would preserve His covenant people
(1:12), whom He would eventually deliver from their cruel
and wicked foreign oppressors (3:13-14).
God as Protector of His People

Evil is doomed but the righteous rely on God's promises.
"… but the righteous will live by his faith –" (Habakkuk 2:4 Key Verse)
Application
1. Do you keep on doing the right
thing, regardless of what happens?
2. Do you trust in God despite the
perplexities of your life?
Material blessing may or may not come to
the righteous, but true rest and joy will
come to the one who waits in faith on the
Lord. Faith is the victory!
627

CONTACT @ +91-8309511427
coachinterculturalstudies@gmail.com

Lecture 14; Habakkuk

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Lecture 14; Habakkuk