Habakkuk prophesied in that period which has sometimes been called “Judah alone”, the period after the northern kingdom had been taken in captivity by the Assyrians. It seems likely that Nineveh had just fallen, according to the prophecy of Nahum and others (612 BC), and Judah was in that sad period when its own time was running out and it would not be long before Babylon took them into exile.
HABBAKUK’S COMPLAINT
Most prophets give God’s message to the people but Habakkuk starts with a complaint to the Lord (v2), why does God not listen to his cries for help? He had been watching Judah society falling apart with (v3) wrongdoing, trouble, destruction, violence, strife and contention. The legal system was corrupt (v4) and, to all appearances, the righteous were suffering at the hands of the wicked. We must not forget that the country had, since the time of Solomon and the odd good king, steadily gone from bad to worse because of their determination not to go God’s way.
GOD’S UNEXPECTED ANSWER
God warns Habakkuk that he has an astonishing answer to his complaint (v5). God does not always act in the way we expect. God was not sitting idly because he was rousing a fierce and impetuous nation, the Chaldeans (v6), who with their swift horses (v8) would come like a devouring eagle, gathering captives, scoffing at kings and laughing at fortress defences. Their way of capturing a city was to pile up the earth next to the walls (v10).
This causes another problem for Habakkuk. The people have done wrong but what is the benefit of them being swallowed up by a people, even more wicked than them (v13). The prophet stood at his watch-post (2v1) and waited for God’s answer to his complaint. The Lord did answer him and Habakkuk was asked to write a vision down, so clearly so that even a person running could read it (v2). It was a vision for the future, an appointed time which may seem to tarry but wait for it, it was surely going to happen (v3).
THE RIGHTEOUS LIVE BY FAITH
Those who are proud have a wrong spirit within them but the “righteous live by their faith” (v4). This simple phrase has phenomenal implications for the future of God’s kingdom and is referred to in key parts of the new testament. Look up Romans chapter one verses 16 and 17 which explains that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has “faith” and then refers to the Habakkuk verse. It is also mentioned in Hebrews chapter 10 (v38, 39) where it introduces chapter 11, the well-known passage on the importance of faith, which goes on to emphasise (v6) that “without faith it is impossible to please God”. Also Galatians 3v10-11 discusses the curse of the law and how it is useless at making us right before God. Rather, it is only through the death of Jesus that we are able to receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (Galatians3v 13,14).
REAPING WHAT YOU SOW
Back to Habakkuk, and the rest of chapter 2 goes on to explain that the wicked will eventually receive their just deserts. Creditors will turn on those who exploited those that owed them money (6, 7). The plunderers will be plundered themselves (v8). But one day the earth (v14) will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Those who gave a cup of shame to others will, one day, drink and stagger, themselves, because the cup, this time, will be in the Lord’s right hand (v16). Shame will then come upon them instead of their fleeting glory. And for those who trust in lifeless idols (v18, 19) he has a message that the idols have “no breath” but the living God is in his holy temple; in other words, watch out (v20)!
HABAKKUK’S PRAYER SONG
Chapter 3 is called a prayer (v1) but we can see from v19 that it was also a song. Some have summarised the book of Habakkuk as the prophet changing from a sob to a song. His cries for help at the beginning of of chapter 1 have been changed by the vision in chapter 2 to a glorious outburst of faith. Faith has brought light to his spirit. Habakkuk, now stood in awe of the Lord and prayed for revival (v2) “In our own time revive it, in our own time make it known, in wrath may you remember mercy”. He longed for God to work his purposes out, like He had in times past. He believed in God’s power and trembled within (v16), but we see him waiting, quietly, for the day of calamity to come upon the people who attacked them.
We have a new man now though, one who has had a vision from God, for when you have revelation from God you are never quite the same again. He was now a man of faith. The fig tree and other foods might fail; everything could look disastrous but in faith he declared v18 “yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exalt in the God of my salvation. Why? Because v19 “God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread on the heights”.
Habakkuk could be seen as a picture of many of us Christians, today, who are crying out to the Lord in our uncertainty, as we look at the world around us. We need a vision from the Lord to reveal that we can live by faith, even during the days of our calamity. By faith we have the power of the gospel in Christ and also the promise of the Holy Spirit. God is our strength and with Him the impossible becomes possible.