19: Minor Prophets – The Book of Habakkuk

[Dunkle] Alright. Welcome back to Minor Prophets class. We've been making good time going through—maybe making a little too good a time. I might be going faster than necessary, so I hope you're keeping up. For those of you on recording, I might be faster than I often am in class, but not by much.

Alright. At any rate, we're ready to start the book of Habakkuk.

Now, one of the big disputes early on is, is it Habakkuk or Habakkuk? I tend to say Habakkuk, but we'll see how it goes. But let's cover the five W’s. And we start off with the who. It was written by a man named Habakkuk. The name in Hebrew means to embrace or embraced. It doesn’t have God’s name in it, but it might be presumed that he’s to be embraced by God.

We don’t know much of anything about Habakkuk personally, but we do think he was probably a Levite. And the main reason for that is the third chapter, which you don’t have to turn there, but it says it’s a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet on Shigaiinoth. But we’re pretty certain that it’s a psalm. It’s a prayer that was set to music, making us think Habakkuk was probably part of the Temple choir.

I’ll mention also at the end of chapter 3, it says to the chief musician. So if he was part of the Temple choir, he would have been a Levite. Matter of fact, those are mentioned in 1 Chronicles in a couple of places, which I’ll turn to—1 Chronicles 9. Chronicles comes before Psalms, last I checked.

It says, "These are the singers, heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites, who lodged in the chambers." (1 Chronicles 9:33). 

So they were the singers. There’s a reference also in 1 Chronicles chapter 15, beginning in verse 16. I won’t turn there, but the point is, at least we can know this about Habakkuk: probably he was a Levite, probably a professional musician, which might say something about his quality of poetry, which we’ll address momentarily.

But let’s first address the when. We believe the book was written around 605 BC, maybe to 600 BC. The reason we think this is, it is foretelling the Babylonian conquest of Judah. So we’ve got some clear indicators. This had to happen before 585, but it doesn’t mention Assyria at all. So it’s probably after Babylon had already conquered Nineveh, which we discussed last time—I think was in about 612 BC.

So we’re in a fairly narrow window. Because Habakkuk mentions sins of Judah, and he doesn’t talk about a religious revival, it’s probably also that this was written after the reign of Josiah. Remember, Josiah was the last good king in Judah, and he’s followed by a succession of sons and a grandson. So it might well have been during the reign of Jehoiakim—with an M. And when we cover the book of Jeremiah, we’ve got to get clear the difference between Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin.

So Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years and wasn’t a good guy. And that’s probably when Habakkuk wrote this, which would have him contemporary with Jeremiah the prophet.

So Habakkuk is probably around the temple doing his job while Jeremiah is in and out—and sometimes in favor, but usually not in favor. But they’re at about the same time period. And I’ve pretty much already addressed the where. If he’s a Levite attached to the temple, he’s in Jerusalem. And everything in the book indicates that this is probably in the capital of the kingdom of Judah there at Jerusalem.

A little more complicated when we talk about why. Why was the book written? Well, actually it’s not that complicated. For one, it’s to condemn Babylon. Okay, so it’s predicting Babylon is going to come and conquer, but Babylon itself will be repaid for its evil. And Habakkuk is concerned about that, so it seems God is making sure Habakkuk knows, hey, these guys that are going to hurt your people—they’ll get what they have coming when the time comes.

And that is sort of addressing the second purpose, and that is to provide some encouragement for Judah—to encourage God’s people to know that God is not forsaking them. God is punishing you because of your sin, but He’s not going to utterly forsake you. It reminds me of the principle of the "great yet I" that is in this book, even though the phrase is not: I’ll punish you, yet I will redeem you—yet I love you.

It might be fitting that the book of Habakkuk comes right after the book of Nahum then, because we said Nahum’s main purpose seemed to be to encourage Judah—to show that your enemy Assyria is going to be punished. Now, later on, the enemy is Babylon, and God is encouraging Judah, saying yes, they’ll be punished.

Interestingly, though, Judah is not specifically named. And maybe that’s part of the artistry and the poetry. It could be Habakkuk, who’s known as writing good poetry—maybe that’s part of his artistry. Or maybe there’s reason God wants us to look at that and look for ways the prophecy can apply to us, you know, to apply to God’s people in the end time, when we need encouragement to know that the evil that’s in the world will be addressed by God.

It is important for us to remember that, and the Bible doesn’t lack in telling us. Sometimes we lack in noticing and paying attention to that. So we don’t want to forget that there are lessons here in the book of Habakkuk for us. So that’s the why.

Let’s turn to the what. And one of the things we like to note about Habakkuk is he has a couple of nicknames. He’s referred to sometimes as the prophet of faith—okay, the prophet of faith. He’s the one that first wrote that the just will live by faith. And, you know, he might see his faith being tested, but it comes through.

But he’s more often known as the questioning prophet, because in his writing he asks a lot of questions. As a matter of fact, in verse 2, "O LORD, how long?" (Habakkuk 1:2). Verse 3, "Why?" (Habakkuk 1:3). Well, I don’t have them all marked—I say over and over again he’s asking God questions.

So he’s crying out to God, you know, why are you letting the wicked be prosperous and succeed? Why are you letting good people suffer? You know, by the way, Psalm 73 makes that point pretty clearly. He cries out to God, why are you permitting such injustice? When will you punish the wicked and save your people?

So for this reason, he’s sometimes called the questioning prophet.

So now I get to share something kind of silly from my days as a student, because we figured we might need to remember that about Habakkuk. So I’m with my study partner and we’re thinking, how can we remember Habakkuk as the questioning prophet? And she says, well, imagine he’s a little kid asking a question. And little kids mispronounce names. So imagine asking his parents, "Can I have a cookie?" And that reminds us—Habakkuk is, okay, Mrs. Roland is chuckling.

So when you think of Habakkuk, think of Habakkuk as the questioning prophet. Okay, I still think it’s funny many years later.

Okay, a major theme in the book, though, along with these questions, is that God will punish Israel’s enemies. And God will embrace His people—which, the meaning of Habakkuk, God will embrace. Okay, He’s going to embrace His people.

Now let me add an aside by those who understand the Hebrew. Scholars say that Habakkuk is one of the greatest of the ancient Hebrew poets. So he’s a poet, and he’s really good at it. Some of that will come through in English, some not as much, but they say his parallelisms are regular.

A parallelism—remember, in Hebrew they don’t rhyme sounds, they rhyme ideas. And sometimes it’s not to have the same idea in different words; it’s an abrupt change that’s called antithetical parallelism. And I’m telling you that mostly because I think it’s really cool to say. It’s a lot of syllables, but it means the idea is going this way, and then there’s a counter idea that’s opposite, and they’re juxtaposed in a way that’s interesting.

Okay, so—and besides just these parallelisms, they say the language is beautiful, including the last chapter, which is a psalm, as I said. It could be called a lyric poem of pretty high quality, probably intended to be sung. And who knows, maybe Habakkuk was in the choir singing what we know as Habakkuk chapter 3.

And so that makes me wonder—why didn’t he preserve the music? Love to be able to put it in front of the piano and have somebody give us the tune. We’re going to have to wait for the resurrection to have that happen.

Alright, with that I think we can get into chapter and verse.

We see verse 1: "The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw." (Habakkuk 1:1). In other words, that’s another phrase that means God put this on him. It generally refers to the message that the prophet is obligated to carry. So this is his burden that he saw. It doesn’t say vision, but that’s generally what you see.

And he starts off with the question: "O LORD, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ And You will not save." (Habakkuk 1:2).

"Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention arises." (Habakkuk 1:3).

It seems like Habakkuk is saying, look, there’s violence, there’s no justice. And it’s like he’s asking God, why are You showing me this if You’re not going to put a stop to it?

Which might make us wonder—you know, he wrote this down, but had he been proclaiming a message for repentance earlier that’s not written down? And he’s frustrated that he’s calling on the people to repent, warning them of punishment for sins, but there hasn’t been a punishment and they haven’t repented. So now he’s coming back to God and saying, what’s the point in me doing this?

Now, I’m reading a little bit into this, but you can see like a bit of frustration in Habakkuk’s writing. Okay, and if that’s the case, then starting in verse—well, actually, we’re not starting God’s answer yet.

Verse 4, he says, "The law is powerless, and justice never goes forth." (Habakkuk 1:4). What he means is the law doesn’t have power if it’s not enforced. So, you know, if you’re not punishing the wicked, there’s no point in having law. "The wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds."

Now, in verse 5, it seems that God responds. So we don’t see the names next to it, but we see like Habakkuk says this to God, now it looks like God gives an answer. And He says, "Look among the nations and watch" (Habakkuk 1:5).

So, hold on, Habakkuk. It’s not that it hasn’t happened yet—but you sit back and watch what’s going to happen. "be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you." It’s going to be so big you’re going to have trouble believing it.

And in a sense, God is saying it’s already underway. If we look historically, the Babylonian army was already advancing. It was already ready to punish Judah and put a stop to these sins.

Now, it says, "I’ll work a work in your days." You know, and in Habakkuk’s days, it seems Babylon changed from being an ally—or at least not an enemy—of Judah into being their conqueror. And it seems to be saying that’s hard to believe. It changed so quickly. But that’s the way things can happen with allies.

Now, we could speculate—it seems like Habakkuk would believe this when God told him. So God is not saying, I’m going to tell you this, but I know you won’t believe it. It’s more implying it’s hard to believe.

But we could see this message—well, actually, we see that Paul paraphrases this in Acts 13:40-41. So in Acts 13, beginning in verse 40, Paul uses a phrase, working a work, you won’t believe though we’re told you. He’s talking about the work of Christ and the work of the Church.

And we see that for us today. Even today still, we are proclaiming God’s message as powerfully as we’re able. And, you know, with the internet, we can get it all around the world. And we’ve been, for years, doing it on radio and television and print. And in general, it’s not believed.

You know, and why not? Well, without God’s Spirit, people are unable to fully comprehend. So we can’t expect everyone to believe the truth without God’s Spirit being given to them. It reminds us, of course—you know, Jesus said, "No one can come to Me unless the Father draws him." You know, He also said, "Many are called, but few are chosen."

So we shouldn’t be surprised, but like Habakkuk, we can be a bit dismayed. Oh Lord, how long? How long is it going to be this way?

Okay, and I meant to read further because some of the explanation of what I said is in verse 6. God says, "For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans." You know, it’s already happening. "A bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs." (Habakkuk 1:6). You know, it’s already happening.

In verse 7, describing these same Chaldeans—or we could say Babylonians—"They are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards" (Habakkuk 1:7).

I’m pretty sure that’s a bit of hyperbole, and I’m not sure if it comes from God or Habakkuk with, again, his imagery— "more fierce than evening wolves. Their chargers charge ahead; their cavalry comes from afar. They fly as the eagle that hastens to eat." (Habakkuk 1:8)

They come for violence. Verse 9 says, "They all come for violence; their faces are set like the east wind. They gather captives like sand." (Habakkuk 1:9).

You know, Babylon had been a power, but—well, I’ll say this—we can know clearly from our reading in the book of Daniel that God would make Babylon the head of gold in the image that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed. So when he’s describing this great power and viciousness, the military success that Babylon would have, it’s God’s doing. God would use Babylon and Babylon’s army as a tool in His hands.

You know, they’re never defying God—or they’re not able to. And because of that, like in verse 10, it says, "They scoff at kings, and princes are scorned by them. They deride every stronghold, for they heap up earthen mounds and seize it." (Habakkuk 1:10). They’re able to conquer everyone they face when God is having them advance.

Now, we could say one stronghold they could not overcome is God’s protection. Matter of fact, if you remember, back in Nahum chapter 1, verse 7, what did we say there?

Oh, I turned to page 2 for—Nahum 1, verse 7: "The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble." (Nahum 1:7). That’s one stronghold that Babylon couldn’t deride and overcome. If you’re under God’s protection, you don’t have to fear any army. I think I told us, you know, trusting in God is better than a bomb shelter.

So we never want to forget this when he’s saying how the Babylonians are conquering just everything.

Verse 11 has an interesting thing that translations vary on, or the scholars have not been sure how to translate it. It says, "Then his mind changes, and he transgresses; he commits offense, ascribing this power to his god." (Habakkuk 1:11).

The word here that’s translated mind in the New King James is from the Hebrew ruach. It’s usually transliterated R-U-A-C-H. Ruach can mean wind. It’s the word that’s most often translated as spirit. And it can mean mind or even emotion and feeling. It can be used for this.

So it’s left, you know, like I said, scholars wondering—is this talking about Babylon changing its attitude toward Judah? As I said, at one point they’d been friendly, and then they turn against them. Some say, is it talking about when Nebuchadnezzar lost his power of reason and became like a beast? And that’s recorded in Daniel chapter 4. We know that story.

So we’re not really sure, but we can see when it says ascribing his power to his god—some translations say their power is their god. So it could be they just worship power. They don’t believe in a god. Or another way of looking at it is they attribute their success to their god, their false god.

The Babylonians had—they worshiped Marduk and Baal. But those weren’t real gods. You know, we understand that God gave them the success they had, but they didn’t acknowledge God. And we never want to make that mistake.

But we can say that’s going to happen in modern times. Nations will be successful in one way or another and not thank the true God for that. And we see it in the world around us still today.

Okay, I think that’s all I wanted to say on that point.

And if you notice, in my version of the Bible, I’ve got a little space showing like a new paragraph starts with verse 12. And this seems to be leading to Habakkuk’s next question.

So if we have this back and forth, we’ll see Habakkuk speaking back to God for the rest of this chapter. So verses 12 through 17 sort of seem that Habakkuk is going to say, yeah, I’m glad that the wicked will be punished—but why would You use a people that are more wicked than us to punish us? That there is sort of a question there that Habakkuk has—like, yeah, we’re bad, but they’re even worse. So he sort of wonders, why are You doing that?

And we’ll see that come out as we go.

Starting in verse 12, he says, "Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction." (Habakkuk 1:12).

Before I move on, I want to note one thing that’s interesting, is Habakkuk uses three different names to describe God here. He starts with what we call the tetragrammaton, the YHWH—or in King James, all capital L-O-R-D. So that’s the proper name we think, often pronounced as Yahweh.

Then, well, he also calls Him God and the Holy One. And later on in the verse, he calls Him the Rock. If you have the old King James, it might say the mighty God. So that Hebrew word—we weren’t sure exactly whether he meant rock or the mighty God, but it’s obviously talking about God.

And so Habakkuk is showing, yeah, I worship You, God, You’re great. You’ve marked them for correction. There’s an interesting point where it says, "We shall not die." (Habakkuk 1:12).

Some Jewish scholars think that this was originally written differently—that it should have been translated as "You shall not die." Because Habakkuk is describing God: You’re pure, You’re the Holy One, You’re the Rock—You’re not going to die. So it fits with the context.

But we don’t have any evidence. We can’t look in the ancient manuscripts and see evidence of a change or a mistranslation. So although it makes sense, we can’t prove that’s what happened.

Another version is to think—or another alternative—is to think Habakkuk is saying we Jewish people, as a nation, won’t cease to exist. We trust that You’re going to preserve us. And we could say that’s in contrast to the other nations. Other nations are being conquered by Babylon and wiped out—we trust we’re not going to die.

That doesn’t mean individuals won’t die. A lot of individuals would die. But the nation would continue. And just lacking evidence of a change in the text, I tend to think that’s probably what he means. But I like to think of the other—we know God would not die.

And going on here at the point I made earlier, it says, "You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness." (Habakkuk 1:13). It’s hard to say "purer," but God, You’re too pure to behold evil. You can’t 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?" (Habakkuk 1:13). Habakkuk is sort of asking the question, why are You letting these bad people punish us? They’re more wicked than us.

"Why do You make men like fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them?" (Habakkuk 1:14). Why are You treating us this way?

He goes on with it, since he brought up the idea of fishermen and a net. Verse 15: "They take up all of them with a hook, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their dragnet;" (Habakkuk 1:15). Babylon captures peoples like fishermen take in fish. You know, the fish have no power to resist the net—the nations have no power to resist Babylon.

And therefore they rejoice, they’re glad. Verse 16 says, "Therefore they sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their dragnet." (Habakkuk 1:16). It’s sort of like saying they’re attributing their success to the tools they have, but not to the true God, who we know gave them that success.

I don’t know if they’re literally worshiping nets—that seems kind of silly. I think it’s poetic license.

In verse 17, "Shall they therefore empty their net, and continue to slay nations without pity?" (Habakkuk 1:17). It’s like, here’s another question—God, are You going to let them keep going? Are they going to destroy all the nations?

So Habakkuk—what we see at the start of chapter 2 might give us the idea that Habakkuk is a little worried that maybe he’s gone too far. I’m asking all these questions—maybe I overstepped. Maybe God is going to be angry with me.

So that’s where in chapter 2, verse 1, he says, "I will stand 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." (Habakkuk 2:1).

So we’re not positive of this, but one way of looking at this is Habakkuk says, uh-oh, I said too much. Now I’ve got to wait and see what’s going to happen when He corrects me. And that might be what it’s saying, but there’s another way of interpreting this that might be a little different.

By the way, when he says, "I’ll stand on my watch"—he’s a Levite in the choir, probably. He’s not out on a watchtower, but he’s also a prophet. And there are a number of times where God would typify prophets as being watchmen who are responsible to warn the people.

In Ezekiel chapter 33, we see that expounded extensively. So there are a number of other places that I’ll mention that I’m not going to bother to give the verses, because Ezekiel 33 is probably the best for saying, you’re a watchman. And a watchman militarily is responsible for sounding the trumpet if he sees an enemy coming. My prophets are responsible to warn the people of punishment for sin.

So Habakkuk is standing on his watch, and he’s going to watch to see what He’ll say.

It says "to me," but if the Hebrew is translated exactly, it should say, I’ll wait to see what He’ll say in me. "In me" could be saying, I’m going to wait to see what vision or new prophecy that God gives me—some new insight. So I’m going to wait to see what God reveals in me or through me, and that’s what I’ll answer.

Well, "for my correction" could be a translation, or how God will answer my pleading.

And I’m taking a real roundabout way to say that it’s possible that Habakkuk feels like he went too far and he’s worried about being corrected, but it’s also possible he knows he’s asked some big questions, and he’s waiting to see how God will respond to this intense pleading.

I kind of like that a little better, because I don’t think God gets mad when we ask Him questions if we’re respectful about doing it. So we want to be respectful, and we can ask God—and I do that in prayer—it’s like, why is this happening? How are we going to fix it? What should I do to fix it?

And sometimes I sit and I look, and I’m on my watch waiting for an answer.

Habakkuk doesn’t have to wait that long, because the rest of chapter 2 is God’s answer.

"Then the LORD answered me and said: ‘Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.’" (Habakkuk 2:2).

That’s an interesting phrase—write it on tablets. It seems like He’s saying put it on a large placard so that someone could read it even if they’re running by. You know, I think the equivalent is like billboards by the highway—they’re so big you can be driving and you can read it. And so that’s one interpretation: make it so clear that someone who’s running could read it.

Another interpretation is that—give them this warning message so that they can read it and know they’ve got to run, you know, because it’s a warning of punishment.

I kind of like that one too. It’s like, oh no, this is going to happen—I’m getting out of here. I think of Wile E. Coyote running away—well, he doesn’t run away, the roadrunner runs away. Anyways, bad pop culture reference.

You guys know where I’m going, though—read the warning, get out of here.

Okay, verse 3: "For the vision is yet for an appointed time." (Habakkuk 2:3).

So it’s coming. When is it going to be? An appointed time—God will punish when it’s time to punish. It reminds me in Daniel 10 and verse 14—in Daniel 10:14, Daniel is told the vision is for many days. Daniel wants it—when is this going to happen? What’s happening? It’s for later, Daniel.

Habakkuk might be getting some of that—it’s for later. "But at the end it will speak, and it won’t lie. Though it tarries, wait for it." You know, it’s going to take some time—but you’ve heard that phrase, wait for it—now it’s coming. So it’s like that. It won’t tarry.

And we could say in the short term, okay, Babylon would conquer Judah. How long would Babylon be a mighty power before it would be conquered?

Seventy years. We know that—it’s laid out pretty clearly, especially in Jeremiah’s prophecy. Although in Daniel, you know, he fasted and appealed to God, saying I know there’s this record that it’s going to be seventy years—okay, to God, it’s time. Can I get some understanding?

Maybe if this is an end-time prophecy—I said we don’t know an exact number—but we know there will be a great power that we refer to as the beast because of Revelation.

We shouldn’t ever lose sight that God puts a limit. God has a plan. You know, the evil will be punished and brought to an end. So wait for it—it’ll come.

Verse 4: "Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith." (Habakkuk 2:4). What a contrast. The proud—remember, several times in Proverbs God says how much He hates a proud look. Pride offends God. So the proud will be punished, but the just will live by faith.

That’s a spiritual principle for all time, and maybe that’s why it’s quoted in the New Testament several times. Paul refers to the just living by faith. He brings it up in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38. Those are the only three I’ve got written down—and I’m not going to quiz you on this—but Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38.

There’s a lot summarizing God’s role, you know—obeying God’s law. The just live by faith. And remember, James would say faith without works is dead. We show our faith by doing what God says because we trust Him. So that’s how the just live by faith.

Going on in verse 5: "Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, he is a proud man, and he does not stay at home. Because he enlarges his desire as hell,"  Remember that’s sheol, the grave, not an ever-burning hellfire. "And he is like death, and cannot be satisfied, he gathers to himself all nations and heaps up for himself all peoples." (Habakkuk 2:5).

You know, this could be talking about Babylon in general, the empire. It seems also perhaps to focus in on the ruler, which would end up being Nebuchadnezzar. You know, transgressing by wine—that’s not to say that drinking wine is a sin, but overindulging. Drunkenness is a sin. And the Babylonians were known for overindulging. They would have drinking parties.

And you go in ancient history—the abuse of alcohol would rise and fall depending on the civilization. But there are times when it was a mark of a warrior—they’d get these big jugs of fortified wine and have drinking contests. Who can drink the most and still be on their feet? Well, I mean, we have fraternities where people do that today, and it’s not good.

But even if you’re drinking in moderation and it’s not a sin, drinking can lead to sin. So, you know, he transgresses by wine. The pride is there—enlarges his desire as hell.  He’s like death and can’t be satisfied. Not being able to be satisfied is saying it’s never enough. They’re just not filled up.

I couldn’t help but connect this to a place in Proverbs 30. Proverbs 30:15—it lists several things that never say enough, you know. And so it lists several things, and one of them is the grave. You know, so you never stop being able to kill people, it’s saying. And here, that’s what he’s saying. Death isn’t satisfied. The grave never says, no, we’re full—no more room for people to die. It can keep happening.

Anyway, so we’re going to move on, but I want to note something in the artistic element that, you know, we wouldn’t see in English. We might notice something, but in verses 6 through 20—so the rest of the chapter—is considered to be a song or a parable. And some people call it a taunting parable or a taunting proverb.

And it’s a song that has five stanzas, each one having three verses. And one of the ways we can see that is each one begins with the word "woe," or begins with a woe, except for the last one. The fifth one doesn’t begin with "woe," but it has something bad. And all five have a closing verse that begins with either "for," "because," or "but." For, because, or but.

So we see it’s the way parallelisms work. There’s this because of this, or but this—or, you know, so it’s Hebrew poetry. I don’t know a better way to say it, because it takes a long time studying Hebrew poetry to really get it, and I haven’t spent a long enough time to get it the way I’d like. But I know this is there.

So I’m going to summarize these five woes.

The first one starts in verse 6 with, "Woe to him who increases what is not his." So someone’s taking from others. "And to him who loads himself with many pledges." (Habakkuk 2:6). A pledge refers to like collateral—so, hey, don’t take my horse, I’ll give you this, you know. So it’s like collateral for a loan, and you’re piling it up. That—that’s bad stuff.

And then we see a response in verse 7: "Will not your creditors rise up suddenly? Will they not awaken who oppress you? And you will become their booty." (Habakkuk 2:7). "Because you have plundered them." (Habakkuk 2:8). Remember that last verse has a "because." So you’re going to get this because of what you did. The "because" comes through.

And by the way, this is one of those examples of what you sow you shall reap. You’ve been treating people this way—this is what you’re going to get.

We go to the second one, verse 9: "Woe to him who covets evil." (Habakkuk 2:9). We’re going to see a condemnation for greed and self-aggrandizement—and that’s hard to say—aggrandizement, making yourself into a big deal and making yourself wealthy.

You know, "that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of disaster." (Habakkuk 2:9). You give shameful counsel.

And verse 11: "For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the timbers." (Habakkuk 2:11). This is a bit of anthropomorphism. Stones and timber don’t cry out, but it’s like saying the materials that you stole to build a nice house—they’ll testify against you. You stole these stones and these timbers, and they’re crying out.

A similar woe comes up in verse 12: "Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, who establishes a city by iniquity!" (Habakkuk 2:12). There’s a condemnation—and we could say for Babylon—building an empire based on violence and oppression. You’re building this, and it’s violence and oppression. That’s not God’s way.

Verse 13: "Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts…" (Habakkuk 2:13). Verse 14—there’s the "for," the turning: "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." (Habakkuk 2:14).

In contrast to the way Babylon’s building an empire and a kingdom, God’s going to do it not through violence or theft, but through knowledge. And this should remind us of Isaiah 11:9: "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea."

And one of the things I like to say about that is when water fills something, it fills every nook and cranny and gap. The bubbles rise to the top and everything’s full.

Let’s move on to the next woe in verse 15: "Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, pressing him to your bottle, even to make him drunk, that you may look on his nakedness!" (Habakkuk 2:15). And you’re filled with shame.

There’s a metaphor of trying to get someone—hey, I drink too much, I’m going to get someone else to drink with me—maybe even for the case of violating that person, you know, taking advantage of them.

But rather than focus on that, I want to relate this to Revelation 17, verses 1 and 2. Actually, it might be worth turning there quickly, because the drink and the wine is sometimes used as a metaphor or a symbol for something else.

Yeah, verse 1: "Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters. With whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication." (Revelation 17:1-2).

There it’s talking about nations being made drunk—not with literal wine, but with ideas, with false philosophies and false religion. And that’s more important.

So coming back to Habakkuk, it’s this idea that it’s not just the drinking there—it’s using false ideas and ideology to deceive people and then take advantage of them. And of course, violence comes as a result.

In verse 17—the "for": "For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you, and the plunder of beasts" (Habakkuk 2:17). It’s not going to work. Violence will overwhelm you.

Then verse 18 begins the last woe, although it doesn’t say "woe," but it says: "What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it?" (Habakkuk 2:18). So it’s sort of implied that there’s a woe—the molded image, a teacher of lies. What’s the point of this?

Well, and the woe comes here: "Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ To silent stone, ‘Arise! It shall teach!’" (Habakkuk 2:19). So we’re condemning idolatry—not because the idol literally teaches lies, because it can’t talk, but it refers to false teaching that’s built around it. You know, it’s leading people astray. It’s going to ruin people’s lives.

In verse 20, we have the "but": "But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him." (Habakkuk 2:20). You know, in contrast to these pointless idols, God has all power. So everyone else should just be silent. It doesn’t say it in those words—it’s not meant to be crass, because this is beautiful poetry—but let all the earth keep silent. Show the respect to the God who is truly a God who does teach.

And that concludes the woes.

And we get to chapter 3, and I already commented on this: "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on Shigionoth." (Habakkuk 3:1). It’s a prayer—we would say a psalm.

Notice the term Selah that we see in the Psalms—we see it in verse 3, and verse 9, and in verse 13. Shigionoth—that’s a musical phrase of some kind. It’s in the heading for Psalm 7. So Psalm 7 is another place you can find Shigionoth.

Well, what in the world is a Shigionoth? Some have speculated maybe it’s a type of musical instrument, but more people think it might be a type of rhythm or even a type of music. Like, okay, here’s a psalm in the country-and-western genre, or this one’s in hip-hop, or something like that.

Or if it’s a rhythm—you know—it’s, um… what’s the one Shakespeare used? Iambic pentameter. Well, Shigionoth tells us something about the music, but we’re not sure what it tells us.

But we have this beautiful lyric poem.

So we go to verse 2: "O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years!" (Habakkuk 3:2). "Revive Your work" could mean continue the work of bringing people to You.

"In the midst of the years"—some people have speculated that Habakkuk wrote this right in the middle of God’s 7,000-year plan. Maybe. More likely, it’s in the midst of this current time. You know, I like to think it’s in the middle of what’s going on—in the midst of years. But we’re not sure.

We do know, verse 3: "God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran." (Habakkuk 3:3). These are locations. Teman is a major city in Edom—so Edom around here, Paran over further in Arabia.

One thing that’s intriguing is the word there for God. Normally, we would see Elohim. This one is El or Eloah. So Habakkuk chose to use the singular here rather than the plural. And I have absolutely no idea why. My guess is that it fits the poetry.

As I said, we’ve got these parallelisms and perhaps chiasms, and you know, the artistry of how the language is arranged means something that often we’re lost—we don’t quite see in the English translation. So I’m going to guess it has to do with that. It’s possible it has to do with one being in the God family and not the other, but I don’t see that as very likely. So I’ll move on.

Either way, "His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise." (Habakkuk 3:3).

Verse 4: "His brightness was like the light;"  This is a description of God’s power. "He had rays flashing from His hand." (Habakkuk 3:4). Rays—the word there in Hebrew is keren. It’s a word that’s often translated as horns, but sometimes it’s translated as power, because the horn of an animal is symbolic of power and might. So might or power streaming from His hands is what this means. So "rays" is probably a good translation.

"Before Him went pestilence, and fever followed." (Habakkuk 3:5). You know, God is showing His great power. He controls plagues as well as blessings.

You know, before pestilence—fever followed—but He stood and measured the earth. Here I’m in verse 6: "And the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills bowed. His ways are everlasting." (Habakkuk 3:6).

"I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian." (Habakkuk 3:7). These refer to non-Israelites, probably Arabic peoples.

Verse 8: "O LORD, were You displeased with the rivers, was Your anger against the rivers, was Your wrath against the sea?" (Habakkuk 3:8). This might be referring back to God’s power. Remember, He parted the Red Sea. He stopped the Jordan River. And a poetic way of saying is, why did You do that? Were You mad at the water?

But that doesn’t—that’s not beautiful. The Hebrew there carries this beautiful artistry of God’s power and how He controls things. And it’s obvious He’s not angry with the water—He’s working out a purpose. He’s got a plan. And we know when He parted the Red Sea, He was delivering His people. When He stopped the flow of the Jordan, He was bringing Israel into the Promised Land.

And "the mountains saw You and trembled; the overflowing of the water passed by." (Habakkuk 3:10). This is verse 10.

Verse 11 mentions, "The sun and moon stood still in their habitation." (Habakkuk 3:11). There’s one time when God made the sun and moon stand still—that was in what’s called Joshua’s long day. That’s found in Joshua chapter 10, beginning in verse 12, where they’re running out of daylight to conquer the enemy. And so Joshua asked God to make the sun and moon stop.

And I believe Mr. Robinson in that class talked about the powerful miracle that it took for God to do that—I think almost beyond our comprehension. So it’s worth looking back to as a mark of God’s greatness.

"You marched through the land in indignation; You trampled the nations in anger." (Habakkuk 3:12). You know, God has all this power.

"You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for salvation with Your Anointed." (Habakkuk 3:13). God saves His people—the salvation of Your Anointed. Now, we often think of "Your Anointed"—that word is Messiah. It could be talking about Jesus Christ. It certainly is, ultimately. But kings and priests were anointed as well.

So God saved the nation and saved His anointed leaders when the time called for it—"You struck the head from the house of the wicked, by laying bare from foundation to neck." (Habakkuk 3:13). "Foundation to neck" is like saying from bottom to top. We could say from the peasants to the king—controlling all of it.

And verses 14 and 15 show God destroying those who afflict His people. "You thrust through with his own arrows the head of his villages; they came out like a whirlwind to scatter me." (Habakkuk 3:14). Here "me," Habakkuk seems to be using himself to portray the nation—he’s symbolizing the others. They came to scatter me, but God walked through the sea and brings deliverance.

So I’m going a little faster because we’re so near the end.

Verse 16: "When I heard, my body trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered my bones." (Habakkuk 3:16). You know, I’m just overwhelmed by God’s power, and I’m moved and humbled at what God does. Let’s not forget this is a song of praise—so it’s meant to be a song, a poem.

"That I might rest in the day of trouble." (Habakkuk 3:16). You know, there’s hope for divine protection and deliverance. "When He comes up to the people, He will invade them with His troops." You know, God is going to come and save us.

In modern parlance, sometimes we say, "the cavalry’s coming," looking back to the old West. Boy, that seems really petty compared to this—but there’s deliverance coming.

And the last few verses are this poetic, powerful statement of faith.

"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, and the fields yield no food;" (Habakkuk 3:17).

It’s like we’re desperate—there’s no food around.

Verse 18 says, "Yet I will rejoice in the LORD" (Habakkuk 3:18). That’s a matter of—remember, faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. I don’t see any food, but I still rejoice in God.

You know, the just will live by faith. I’ll have joy in the salvation of God. I trust God’s going to provide. I don’t have to see the food. I don’t have to see the flocks there. There’s no herd in the stall, but I know God will take care of me.

Verse 19 says, "The LORD God is my strength" (Habakkuk 3:19). I don’t need my own strength—He’s my strength. "He’ll make my feet like deer’s feet," which doesn’t mean you’re going to have hooves, but it’s like the ability to leap and run like a deer.

"He’ll make me walk on my high hills." In modern vernacular, we might say I’m walking on air—or if you’re like the song, "I’m walking on sunshine"—tell me you guys weren’t thinking of that. Yeah, so I’m walking on the high hills. So God is going to take care of it. He’ll provide. It’s like we’re going to be walking on air.

And that’s how it ends. There’s just a note to give this to the chief musician—again, for musical worship.

And that was a fast way of going through chapter 3, but that’s the book of Habakkuk.

We’ve got one more of the short minor prophets—well, two short ones—but we have these three three-chapter books in a row. We’ll close the next one out probably in our next class, or I might actually use two classes to do it. And we’ll move on to the post-exilic prophets.

So we’ll see you all next time.