The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV
Page 431
3:5 d Is. 47:2, 3; Jer. 13:26
3:6 e Nah. 1:14
3:6 f Heb. 10:33
3:6 5 despicable
3:7 g Rev. 18:10
3:7 h Jon. 3:3; 4:11
3:7 i Is. 51:19; Jer. 15:5
3:8 j Amos 6:2
3:8 k Jer. 46:25; Ezek. 30:14–16
3:8 6 Ancient Thebes; Tg., Vg. populous Alexandria
3:8 7 Lit. rivers, the Nile and the surrounding canals
3:9 l Gen. 10:6; Jer. 46:9; Ezek. 27:10
3:9 8 LXX her
3:10 m Ps. 137:9; Is. 13:16; Hos. 13:16
3:10 n Lam. 2:19
3:10 o Joel 3:3; Obad. 11
3:11 p Is. 49:26; Jer. 25:27; Nah. 1:10
3:12 q Rev. 6:12, 13
3:13 r Is. 19:16; Jer. 50:37; 51:30
3:13 s Ps. 147:13; Jer. 51:30
3:14 t Nah. 2:1
3:15 u Joel 1:4
3:16 v Rev. 18:3, 11–19
3:17 w Rev. 9:7
3:18 x Ex. 15:16; Ps. 76:5, 6; Is. 56:10; Jer. 51:57
3:18 y Jer. 50:18; Ezek. 31:3
3:18 z 1 Kin. 22:17; Is. 13:14
3:19 a Jer. 46:11; Mic. 1:9
3:19 b Job 27:23; Lam. 2:15; Zeph. 2:15
Introduction to Habakkuk
Title
This prophetic book takes its name from its author and possibly means “one who embraces” (1:1; 3:1). By the end of the prophecy, this name becomes appropriate as the prophet clings to God regardless of his confusion about God’s plans for His people.
Author and Date
As with many of the Minor Prophets, nothing is known about the prophet except that which can be inferred from the book. In the case of Habakkuk, internal information is virtually nonexistent, making conclusions about his identity and life conjectural. His simple introduction as “the prophet Habakkuk” may imply that he needed no introduction since he was a well known prophet of his day. It is certain that he was a contemporary of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zephaniah.
The mention of the Chaldeans (1:6) suggests a late seventh century B.C. date, shortly before Nebuchadnezzar commenced his military march through Nineveh (612 B.C.), Haran (609 B.C.), and Carchemish (605 B.C.), on his way to Jerusalem (605 B.C.). Habakkuk’s bitter lament (1:2–4) may reflect a time period shortly after the death of Josiah (609 B.C.), days in which the godly king’s reforms (cf. 2 Kin. 23) were quickly overturned by his successor, Jehoiakim (Jer. 22:13–19).
Background and Setting
Habakkuk prophesied during the final days of the Assyrian Empire and the beginning of Babylonia’s world rulership under Nabopolassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar. When Nabopolassar ascended to power in 626 B.C., he immediately began to expand his influence to the N and W. Under the leadership of his son, the Babylonian army overthrew Nineveh in 612 B.C., forcing the Assyrian nobility to take refuge first in Haran and then Carchemish. Nebuchadnezzar pursued them, overrunning Haran in 609 B.C. and Carchemish in 605 B.C.
The Egyptian king Necho, traveling through Judah in 609 B.C. to assist the fleeing Assyrian king, was opposed by King Josiah at Megiddo (2 Chr. 35:20–24). Josiah was killed in the ensuing battle, leaving his throne to a succession of 3 sons and a grandson. Earlier, as a result of discovering the Book of the Law in the temple (622 B.C.), Josiah had instituted significant spiritual reforms in Judah (2 Kin. 22, 23), abolishing many of the idolatrous practices of his father Amon (2 Kin. 21:20–22) and grandfather Manasseh (2 Kin. 21:11–13). Upon his death, however, the nation quickly reverted to her evil ways (cf. Jer. 22:13–19), causing Habakkuk to question God’s silence and apparent lack of punitive action (1:2–4) to purge His covenant people.
Historical and Theological Themes
The opening verses reveal a historical situation similar to the days of Amos and Micah. Justice had essentially disappeared from the Land; violence and wickedness were pervasive, existing unchecked. In the midst of these dark days, the prophet cried out for divine intervention (1:2-4). God’s response, that He was sending the Chaldeans to judge Judah (1:5-11), creates an even greater theological dilemma for Habakkuk: Why didn’t God purge His people and restore their righteousness? How could God use the Chaldeans to judge a people more righteous than they (1:12-2:1)? God’s answer that He would judge the Chaldeans also (2:2-20), did not fully satisfy the prophet’s theological quandary; in fact, it only intensified it. In Habakkuk’s mind, the issue crying for resolution is no longer God’s righteous response toward evil (or lack thereof), but the vindication of God’s character and covenant with His people (1:13). Like Job, the prophet argued with God, and through that experience he achieved a deeper understanding of God’s sovereign character and a firmer faith in Him (cf. Job 42:5, 6; Is. 55:8, 9). Ultimately, Habakkuk realized that God was not to be worshiped merely because of the temporal blessings He bestowed, but for His own sake (3:17-19).
Interpretive Challenges
The queries of the prophet represent some of the most fundamental questions in all of life, with the answers providing crucial foundation stones on which to build a proper understanding of God’s character and His sovereign ways in history. The core of his message lies in the call to trust God (2:4), “the just shall live by his faith.” The NT references ascribe unusual importance theologically to Habakkuk. The writer of Hebrews quotes Hab. 2:4 to amplify the believer’s need to remain strong and faithful in the midst of affliction and trials (Heb. 10:38). The apostle Paul, on the other hand, employs the verse twice (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11) to accentuate the doctrine of justification by faith. There need not be any interpretive conflict, however, for the emphasis in both Habakkuk and the NT references goes beyond the act of faith to include the continuity of faith. Faith is not a one-time act, but a way of life. The true believer, declared righteous by God, will habitually persevere in faith throughout all his life (cf. Col. 1:22, 23; Heb. 3:12-14). He will trust the sovereign God who only does what is right.
Outline
I. Superscription (1:1)
II. The Prophet’s Perplexities (1:2-2:20)
A. His First Complaint (1:2-4)
B. God’s First Response (1:5-11)
C. His Second Complaint (1:12-2:1)
D. God’s Second Response (2:2-20)
III. The Prophet’s Prayer (3:1-19)
A. Petition for God’s Mercy (3:1, 2)
B. Praise of God’s Power (3:3-15)
C. Promise of God’s Sufficiency (3:16-19)
The Book of
HABAKKUK
Habakkuk 1
The Prophet Questions God’s Judgments
1The 1burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw.
The Prophet’s Question
2O LORD, how long shall I cry,
a And You will not hear?
Even cry out to You, b“Violence!”
And You will cnot save.
3Why do You show me iniquity,
And cause me to see 2trouble?
For plundering and violence are before me;
There is strife, and contention arises.
4Therefore the law is powerless,
And justice never goes forth.
For the dwicked surround the righteous;
Therefore perverse judgment proceeds. Other Psalms
The LORD’s Reply
5“Looke among the nations and watch—
Be utterly astounded!
For I will work a work in your days
Which you would not believe, though it were told you.
6For indeed I am fraising up the Chaldeans,
A bitter and hasty gnation
Which marches through the breadth of the earth,
To possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
7They are terrible and dreadful;
Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.
8Their horses also are hswifter than leopards,
And more fierce than evening wolves.
Their 3chargers 4charge ahead;
Their cavalry comes from afar;
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They fly as the ieagle that hastens to eat.
9“They all come for violence;
Their faces are set like the east wind.
They gather captives like sand.
10They scoff at kings,
And princes are scorned by them.
They deride every stronghold,
For they heap up earthen mounds and seize it.
11Then his 5mind changes, and he transgresses;
He commits offense,
j Ascribing this power to his god.”
The Prophet’s Second Question
12Are You not kfrom everlasting,
O LORD my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O LORD, lYou have appointed them for judgment;
O Rock, You have marked them for mcorrection.
13You are of purer eyes than to behold evil,
And cannot look on wickedness.
Why do You look on those who deal treacherously,
And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours
A person more righteous than he?
14Why do You make men like fish of the sea,
Like creeping things that have no ruler over them?
15They take up all of them with a hook,
They catch them in their net,
And gather them in their dragnet.
Therefore they rejoice and are glad.
16Therefore nthey sacrifice to their net,
And burn incense to their dragnet;
Because by them their share is 6sumptuous
And their food plentiful.
17Shall they therefore empty their net,
And continue to slay nations without pity?
Habakkuk 2
The Just Shall Live by Faith
1I will astand my watch
And set myself on the rampart,
And watch to see what He will say to me,
And what I will answer when I am corrected.
The Just Live by Faith
2Then the LORD answered me and said:
b“Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
3For cthe vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will dnot lie.
Though it tarries, ewait for it;
Because it will fsurely come,
It will not tarry.
4“Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the gjust shall live by his faith.
Woe to the Wicked
5“Indeed, because he transgresses by wine,
He is a proud man,
And he does not stay at home.
Because he henlarges his desire as 1hell,
And he is like death, and cannot be satisfied,
He gathers to himself all nations
And heaps up for himself all peoples.
6“Will not all these itake up a proverb against him,
And a taunting riddle against him, and say,
‘Woe to him who increases
What is not his—how long?
And to him who loads himself with 2many pledges’?
7Will not 3your creditors rise up suddenly?
Will they not awaken who oppress you?
And you will become their booty.
8j Because you have plundered many nations,
All the remnant of the people shall plunder you,
Because of men’s 4blood
And the violence of the land and the city,
And of all who dwell in it.
9“Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house,
That he may kset his nest on high,
That he may be delivered from the 5power of disaster!
10You give shameful counsel to your house,
Cutting off many peoples,
And sin against your soul.
11For the stone will cry out from the wall,
And the beam from the timbers will answer it.
12“Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed,
Who establishes a city by iniquity!
13Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts
That the peoples labor 6to feed the fire,
And nations weary themselves in vain?
14For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
As the waters cover the sea.
15“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor,
7 Pressing him to your lbottle,
Even to make him drunk,
That you may look on 8his nakedness!
16You are filled with shame instead of glory.
You also—drink!
And 9be exposed as uncircumcised!
The cup of the LORD’s right hand will be turned against you,
And utter shame will be on your glory.
17For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you,
And the plunder of beasts which made them afraid,
Because of men’s blood
And the violence of the land and the city,
And of all who dwell in it.
18“What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it,
The molded image, a teacher of lies,
That the maker of its mold should trust in it,
To make mute idols?
19Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’
To silent stone, ‘Arise! It shall teach!’
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
Yet in it there is no breath at all.
20“Butm the LORD is in His holy temple.
Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
Habakkuk 3
The Prophet’s Prayer
1A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on 1Shigionoth.
2O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;
O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.
3God came from Teman,
The Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah
His glory covered the heavens,
And the earth was full of His praise.
4His brightness was like the light;
He had rays flashing from His hand,
And there His power was hidden.
5Before Him went pestilence,
And fever followed at His feet.
6He stood and measured the earth;
He looked and startled the nations.
a And the everlasting mountains were scattered,
The perpetual hills bowed.
His ways are everlasting.
7I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
The curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
8O LORD, were You displeased with the rivers,
Was Your anger against the rivers,
Was Your wrath against the sea,
That You rode on Your horses,
Your chariots of salvation?
9Your bow was made quite ready;
Oaths were sworn over Your 2arrows. Selah
You divided the earth with rivers.
10The mountains saw You and trembled;
The overflowing of the water passed by.
The deep uttered its voice,
And blifted its hands on high.
11The csun and moon stood still in their habitation;
At the light of Your arrows they went,
At the shining of Your glittering spear.
12You marched through the land in indignation;
You 3trampled the nations in anger.
13You went forth for the salvation of Your people,
For salvation with Your Anointed.
You struck the head from the house of the wicked,
By laying bare from foundation to neck. Selah
14You thrust through with his own arrows
The head of his villages.
They came out like
a whirlwind to scatter me;
Their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret.
15d You walked through the sea with Your horses,
Through the heap of great waters.
16When I heard, emy body trembled;
My lips quivered at the voice;
Rottenness entered my bones;
And I trembled in myself,
That I might rest in the day of trouble.
When he comes up to the people,
He will invade them with his troops.
A Hymn of Faith
17Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls—
18Yet I will frejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
194 The LORD God is my strength;
He will make my feet like gdeer’s feet,
And He will make me hwalk on my high hills.
To the Chief Musician. With my stringed instruments.
Habakkuk Commentaries
Habakkuk 1
1:1 burden. A weighty, heavy oracle of judgment (cf. 1:5–11; 2:2–20) is often depicted by this term when employed by the prophets to announce God’s wrath against sin (e.g., Is. 13:1; 15:1; 17:1; 19:1; Nah. 1:1; Zech. 9:1; 12:1; Mal. 1:1). saw. God’s message to Habakkuk took the form of a vision.
1:2–4 In Habakkuk’s first complaint, he perceived that God appeared indifferent to Judah’s sin. Jealous for His righteousness and knowing that a breach of the covenant required judgment (cf. Deut. 28), Habakkuk questioned God’s wisdom, expressing bewilderment at His seeming inactivity in the face of blatant violation of His law. The Jews had sinned by violence and injustice and should have been punished by the same.
1:2 how long shall I cry. The phrase, reflecting the prophet’s impatience, is frequently used by the psalmist to express similar thoughts of perplexity (cf. Pss. 13:1, 2; 62:3; Jer. 14:9; Matt. 27:46).
1:2, 3 Violence…iniquity…trouble…plundering. Judah’s society is defined with 4 terms denoting malicious wickedness by which one morally and ethically oppresses his neighbor, resulting in contention and strife.
1:2 And You will not save. The prophet wanted a cleansing, purging, chastening, and revival among the people that would return them to righteousness.
1:4 law is powerless. Lit. the “law is chilled, numbed” (cf. Gen. 45:26; Ps. 77:2). It had no respect, was given no authority. As hands rendered useless by cold, the impact and effectiveness of the law was paralyzed by the corruption of Judah’s leaders (cf. Eccl. 8:11).