HAB 3Habakkuk 3

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NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)

New Living Translation (NLT)

Habakkuk’s Prayer

3 This prayer was sung by the prophet Habakkuk: 2 I have heard all about you, LORD. remember your mercy. 3 I see God moving across the deserts from Edom, and the earth is filled with his praise. 4 His coming is as brilliant as the sunrise. where his awesome power is hidden. 5 Pestilence marches before him; plague follows close behind. 6 When he stops, the earth shakes. He is the Eternal One! 7 I see the people of Cushan in distress, and the nation of Midian trembling in terror. 8 Was it in anger, LORD, that you struck the rivers No, you were sending your chariots of salvation! 9 You brandished your bow You split open the earth with flowing rivers. 10 The mountains watched and trembled. lifting its hands in submission. 11 The sun and moon stood still in the sky and your glittering spear flashed. 12 You marched across the land in anger and trampled the nations in your fury. 13 You went out to rescue your chosen people, and stripped their bones from head to toe. 14 With his own weapons, thinking Israel would be easy prey. 15 You trampled the sea with your horses, and the mighty waters piled high. 16 I trembled inside when I heard this; when disaster will strike the people who invade us. 17 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and the cattle barns are empty, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength! (For the choir director: This prayer is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.)

Introduction to Habakkuk

Background of Habakkuk

What Is the Book of Habakkuk About?

Time: 3 Minutes

Have you ever looked around and wondered, “What is God doing?”

Maybe you’ve looked at the world and said, “No way is there a loving God behind all of this.”

We frankly don’t want the circumstances that cause us to ask these questions. They remind us of our lack of control, our lack of information, and our lack of understanding. And each of us, at one point or another, buckle under the weight of our disorientation and confusion.

If you open the Bible, you’ll find that you’re not alone. The prophet Habakkuk expresses this same confusion. However, in his short book, Habakkuk models for us what we ought to do when we are perplexed: turn to God.

Habakkuk was an Old Testament prophet in the 7th century BC. Habakkuk struggled to see what God was accomplishing through all the international conflicts of his day. He asked God, “What are you doing?”

Assyria, a foreign superpower, was passing away into obscurity. His nation, Israel, remained unpunished for her sin. Another superpower, Babylon, was rising to national prominence. Habakkuk didn’t understand what was happening—all the while, God seemed to let all the evil of these various people groups go unpunished. Habakkuk asks, “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you, ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?” (Habakkuk 1:2).

Amazingly, God does answer Habakkuk. God says he will judge the Israelites for their sin—through Babylon.

But then Habakkuk asks God how can he, a Holy God, use a sinful and evil people to punish sin? That seems unjust.

God replies that the Babylonians, too, will be judged for their wickedness (Habakkuk 2:6-20). God will leave no sin unpunished. Even those he uses as punishment (Babylon) to punish the unjust (Israel) will suffer judgement. Eventually, the Persians would rise up and defeat the Babylonians, freeing the Israelites from their captivity.

A dizzying story—for us. But it’s not dizzying for the Author of the story. By giving us books like Habakkuk, the Author of history intends to teach us how to live within his own story.

Through Habakkuk, God teaches us that we must live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4). God calls those who know him to keep living with integrity amidst the complexities of a sinful world.

When we can’t fully see or understand God’s work in the world, we are to trust in the one who says, “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 I told” (Habakkuk 1:5). Though we lack understanding, our God does not.

By example, the prophet Habakkuk moves us to rejoice in the Lord. He is our joy despite perplexing circumstances and dark times.

But Habakkuk doesn’t leave us to wallow in our finitude and lack of understanding. No, by example, the prophet Habakkuk moves us to rejoice in the Lord. He is our joy despite perplexing circumstances and dark times.

Habakkuk concludes his complaint with a beautiful declaration of trust. He says, “yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places” (Habakkuk 3:18-19).

Habakkuk chose to trust in the God who stands over and above all foreign powers, moving them around like chess pieces on a board. He found joy and salvation in God, who loved and cared for him enough to stoop down and answer his perplexed cries. This same God stands as King over your circumstances, offering you joy and a relationship with him. Will you, like Habakkuk, trust him?

What Is the Background of Habakkuk?

Time: 20 Minutes

Background of Habakkuk

1

Author and Date

Habakkuk is unusual as a prophetic book. It never addresses the people of Judah directly. Rather it is a dialogue between the prophet and God. The prophet Habakkuk was probably a contemporary of Zephaniah and Jeremiah, and possibly even of Ezekiel and Daniel. He probably prophesied no later than the end of Josiah’s reign (640–609 BC).

2

Theme and Overview

The first two chapters are organized around Habakkuk’s questions and the Lord’s replies. Habakkuk saw Judah’s rapid moral and spiritual decline, and this deeply troubled him. Yet God’s response puzzled him even more. How could a good and just God use a more wicked nation (Babylon) to punish a less wicked one (Judah)? God makes it clear that both nations are to be judged and appropriately punished for their sin. Although Habakkuk may not fully understand, he has learned to rely totally on God’s wisdom and justice. He knows God can resolve issues in ways he could never have imagined. This God is certainly worthy of Habakkuk’s praise and worship, which is how the book ends.

Many of the righteous in Judah would have agreed with Habakkuk’s words. They wondered what God was doing and struggled with the same issues as Habakkuk. God’s words reassured them that he was in control and would deal appropriately with the nations.

3

Key Themes

1. God is just and merciful, even though his people may not always understand his ways (Habakkuk 2:4).

2. Wickedness will eventually be punished, and the righteous will ultimately see God’s justice (Habakkuk 2:5–20).

3. God uses some wicked nations to punish other wicked nations, but ultimately God will judge all nations (Habakkuk 1:6; 2:5–20).

4. The key phrase “the righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4) summarizes God’s plan for his people. It is quoted three times in the New Testament (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38). Each time a different aspect of the phrase’s meaning is highlighted.

4

Outline

I. Superscription (1:1)

II. First Cycle (1:2–11)
A. Habakkuk’s lament (1:2–4)
B. God’s response (1:5–11)

III. Second Cycle (1:12–2:20)
A. Habakkuk’s lament (1:12–2:1)
B. God’s response (2:2–20)

IV. Habakkuk’s Prayer (3:1–19)

5

The Near East at the Time of Habakkuk

Background of Habakkuk

The Global Message of Habakkuk

1

Trusting the Lord

Trust the Lord, no matter what. That is Habakkuk’s message for God’s people around the world today. Believers can, and must, trust in God no matter how tumultuous outward circumstances may become.

Habakkuk is unique in that the prophet is not speaking to God’s people but rather to God himself. Habakkuk is perplexed because God is planning to use Babylon to punish his own people, Judah, even though Babylon is far more wicked than Judah. The three chapters of this prophecy show Habakkuk wrestling with God in anguish, but ultimately learning to trust in the Lord no matter what.

Down through history and around the world, this has been the test to which God’s children are called. Whatever political circumstances or economic hardships or religious persecution they are experiencing, will they trust him? Will they gladly rely on God for all that they need to nourish and sustain them as they await their inheritance of the world itself (Matthew 25:34; 1 Corinthians 3:21–23).

2

Habakkuk in Redemptive History

Trust in Self

Though it is difficult to know when Habakkuk was written, it was clearly at a time when Judah was at a moral low point, possibly during the reign of the extremely wicked kings Manasseh or Amon. Judah had sunk so low that the people were worshiping Baal, offering their children in sacrifice to the pagan god Molech, dedicating horses to the sun god, and neglecting the care of the temple.

The sin of Judah 2,600 years ago traces all the way back to the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Since that critical moment, all of humanity has been plagued with a tendency toward self-centeredness and pride. One way this manifests itself is in unhealthy self-trust and self-reliance—depending on our own abilities or cleverness or resources for a stable existence. This was Judah’s sin.

Trust in Christ

Yet Judah’s sin reaches not only backward to Eden but also forward to our own day, and it is ultimately healed only in Christ. Only through Christ can the mercy of God toward his people and his justice toward their sinful self-trust be equally upheld. Beholding Christ and his work on the cross, we are freed by the Holy Spirit from self-trust as we learn to trust in Christ. As the New Testament puts it, drawing on Habakkuk, “The righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17; Habakkuk 2:4; compare Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38).

As we consider the book of Habakkuk in global redemptive history, we remember God’s unchanging commitment to preserve his people. He will sustain and purify his people at all costs, yet he does this at times in ways that are deeply mysterious to them. Yet even when it is through strange events that his people are purged, they are called to put their faith wholeheartedly in him, no matter what.

3

Universal Themes in Habakkuk

Confidence in the Lord

This is the key theme of Habakkuk, and it is a universal need for God’s people around the world and down through history. God can and must be trusted at all costs. This has been proven to us supremely in Christ. Jesus Christ gave up everything in heaven to come to earth and die for sinners so that we sinners, having been forgiven, can give up everything on earth when so required, knowing that we will one day be in heaven with him. God is the maker of heaven and earth, the upholder and sustainer of all things. He is sovereign, wise, and abundant in mercy—he can be trusted.

God Will Bring All Wickedness to Account

Judah had become deeply wicked, and God brought Babylon to punish them. Yet Babylon too was desperately wicked—in Habakkuk’s eyes, even more wicked than Judah (Habakkuk 1:13). Therefore God would also bring Babylon to account, as well as all other nations of the earth (Habakkuk 3:12). God’s justice will ultimately be universally distributed in perfect righteousness and fairness. No one will get what is not deserved. All who have walked uprightly will be treated accordingly. And all who have walked in wickedness, no matter how hidden from human eyes, will be judged accordingly (1 Corinthians 4:5).

The Global Glory of God

Habakkuk’s prophecy presents believers with a picture of a majestic God who in his dealings with us transcends ethnic, racial, and economic differences. Responding to Habakkuk’s astonishment that he would use the Babylonians to punish Judah, the Lord proclaims that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). This vision of what will one day be true of all the earth shows us how we should conduct ourselves in the meantime: “But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him” (Habakkuk 2:20). Recalling God’s great deliverance of Israel from Egypt (Habakkuk 3:3, 15), Habakkuk reflects on how “his splendor covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise” (Habakkuk 3:3) as God “shook the nations” (Habakkuk 3:6). In all of this we see the worldwide dimensions of God’s glory, his resplendent magnificence as he goes into action.

4

The Global Message of Habakkuk for Today

It is often difficult to see the hand of God in a fallen world. We become quickly perplexed and doubtful of his faithfulness and care in light of natural disasters, poor stewardship of the earth’s resources, political corruption, rejection of the gospel, hostility toward followers of Christ, hunger, economic instability, and a thousand other frustrations and disappointments.

Yet even when all outward evidence points to the contrary, the church is called to trust in the Lord. This trust is based not on what we see but on who God is—the God who will “in wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:2). God’s character is supremely revealed in Jesus Christ, the final “anointed” one (Habakkuk 3:13), in whom divine wrath and divine mercy meet. Because of Christ’s saving work on the cross, God calls all people from every tribe and nation to place their trust in him, for “the righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).

As believers around the globe meditate on Habakkuk’s prophecy, may we all join together in affirming,

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:17–18)

3:1-3:19 Habakkuk’s prophecy concludes with a psalm-like prayer.

3:2 Habakkuk stands in awe before the Sovereign One who sits enthroned in his holy Temple (2:20). • In light of God’s message of Judah’s coming chastisement, Habakkuk prays that God, who has miraculously intervened on Israel’s behalf in the past, will once again make known his work of redemption (see also Ps 77).

3:3 Edom (Hebrew Teman): Teman was one of Edom’s chief cities (see also Job 2:11; Jer 49:7); the term could refer to the entire region of Edom where the city was located (cp. Obad 1:9). Habakkuk’s use of the term in conjunction with Mount Paran suggests that he had the broader region in mind. • Holy One is a prominent title for God, as holiness is his defining characteristic (Hab 1:12; see also Exod 15:11; 2 Kgs 19:22; Ps 77:13; Isa 6:3). • Mount Paran: The region of Paran included the mountain range west and south of Edom and northeast of Mount Sinai, as well as a broad desert area in the Sinai Peninsula.

3:3-3:15 The prophet praises God’s power to save. These two praise stanzas (3:3-7 and 3:8-15) are a poetic reflection upon Israel’s exodus experience. Although Habakkuk’s focus is upon God’s redemption of his people, his imagery occasionally reflects ideas found in ancient Near Eastern tales concerning the gods (e.g., pestilence and plague, 3:5; river and sea, 3:8; sun and moon, 3:11). This imagery reminds Habakkuk’s original readers that the Lord alone is the one true God who is sovereign over all these things.

3:4 brilliant as the sunrise: The Lord, who once appeared on Mount Sinai and filled the southern land with his glory, fills the heavens with his splendor.

3:5 Habakkuk personifies pestilence (see Deut 32:24) and plague (see Exod 7–12; Amos 4:10) as soldiers in God’s army, fulfilling his purposes.

3:5-3:6 God is the divine warrior who intervenes on behalf of his own (see 3:8-15; see also Isa 63:1-6).

3:7 Midian occupied the southern part of the region just east of the Jordan (see Gen 36:35); the nation was trembling in terror at the earth-shaking power of God’s presence (Hab 3:6).

3:8 struck the rivers . . . parted the sea: See Exod 7:19-20; 14:15-31. • chariots of salvation: An ironic echo of the Egyptian chariots, which pursued the Israelites when God led them to escape through the Red Sea (Exod 14:9).

3:8-3:15 The Lord is a divine warrior for his people, moving in redemptive power on their behalf. The motif of God as divine warrior spans both Old Testament and New Testament: It is seen in Israel’s exodus from Egypt, their movement to Mount Sinai (Exod 15:1-18), their approach to the Promised Land from the south, and their triumphs in the early conquest period (e.g., Judg 5:4-5; Pss 18:8-16; 77:16-20; a key New Testament example is Rev 19:11-21).

3:9-3:11 Only God controls the forces of the natural world.

3:10 waters: See study note on 3:8; see also Exod 15:1-18.

3:11 sun and moon: See Josh 10:12-13.

3:15 sea . . . waters: The section ends as it began (3:8).

3:16 Although the full realization of God’s mighty power sapped Habakkuk’s strength to the point that he trembled, he would wait quietly (see 2:3) for God’s judgment to descend.

3:17-3:19 After recounting God’s mighty acts of redemption (3:2-15), and pausing to consider them (3:16), Habakkuk now reaffirms his trust in God as he closes his prayer. • Even though . . . yet I will rejoice: Even if God never pours out material blessing on his people again, he is still worthy of all the trust and praise they can give. Come what may, the prophet could rejoice, knowing that the Lord is not only Israel’s Redeemer, but also the source of his own salvation.

3:19 Habakkuk owed whatever strength he had to the Sovereign Lord, his Savior (3:18). Habakkuk compared his spiritual climb to a deer swiftly ascending to the mountaintops and gracefully gliding over them (cp. Ps 18:32-33).

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