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The Book Of Habakkuk |
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Focus |
Is God Concerned In The Affairs Of Men? |
Psalm Of Praise |
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Reference |
1:1 |
1:5 |
1:12 |
2:2 |
3:1 |
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Division |
Habakkuk’s Question |
God’s Reply With Future Perspective |
Habakkuk’s 2nd Question Developed From God’s Reply |
God’s 1st Reply With Eternal Perspective 1st Advent |
Habakkuk’s Song Of The Glory And Person Of God |
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Topic |
Why isn’t God judging Judah’s Sins? |
“For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans” that bitter and hasty nation |
Why would The Righteous God Judge Judah By Using A Nation More Wicked? |
God Will Judge Babylon After He Uses Them To Judge Judah |
“ I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years” |
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Habakkuk’s Expanded Vision |
Why Doesn’t God do something about the sins of His People? |
The First Coming Of Christ (Matthew 1:21) |
Why is God going to do it that way? |
God’s 1st Reply With Eternal Perspective 2nd Advent (Habakkuk 2:14) |
“His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise…His brightness was as the light” |
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God’s Vision Revealed |
“For I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you” |
“Whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent” |
Destruction Of Babylon |
Destruction Of Mystery Babylon |
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. |
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Result of God’s Words |
Living By Faith (Habakkuk 3:16-19) (Romans 1:16-17) (Galatians 3:11-14) (Hebrews 10 - 11) |
God’s Righteousness Revealed |
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Location |
Judah |
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Realization of Faith |
1Corinthians 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 1Corinthians 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 1Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 1Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. |
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Time |
Habakkuk Writes That The Babylonians Are Becoming A World Power, And Apparently The Revival During The Good King Josiah (640-609 B.C.) Had Faded and the people are back to idolatry. So, Most Likely, This Little Book Was Written sometime after King Josiah maybe during the Reign of The Bad King Jehoiakim (609 – 597 B.C.), King of Judah, Who Rebuilt The High Places that King Josiah had torn down, and thereby seducing the People to return to Idolatry. |
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As In Habakkuk’s time, we now live in uncertain times. Have you ever wondered why God would permit the evil that is going on in the world? Have you ever wondered if God really cares about the affairs of mankind? We have terrible wickedness all around us, does God have a plan? Well, this is the mindset of God’s prophet Habakkuk and God lifted him to a much higher plain. God can do the same for us today. Faith is the key that opens the door. What is faith? We will find that, “Faith is believing God will do what He said He would do.” (Romans 4:21, Hebrews 11)
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Chronological Table of the Divided Kingdom |
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Kingdom of Judah |
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King |
Reign |
Character |
Prophet |
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1. Rehoboam |
931-913 B.C. (17 yrs.) |
Bad |
Shemaiah |
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2. Abijah |
913-911 (3 yrs.) |
Bad |
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3. Asa |
911-870 (41 yrs.) |
Good |
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4. Jehoshaphat |
870-848* (25 yrs.) |
Good |
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5. Jehoram |
848-841* (8 yrs.) |
Bad |
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6. Ahaziah |
841 (1 yr.) |
Bad |
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7. Athaliah |
841-835 (6 yrs.) |
Bad |
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8. Joash |
835-796 (40 yrs.) |
Good |
Joel |
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9. Amaziah |
796-767 (29 yrs.) |
Good |
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10. Azariah (or Uzziah) |
767-740* (52 yrs.) |
Good |
Isaiah |
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11. Jotham |
740-732* (16 yrs.) |
Good |
Micah |
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12. Ahaz |
732-716 (16 yrs.) |
Bad |
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13. Hezekiah |
716-687 (29 yrs.) |
Good |
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14. Manasseh |
687-642* (55 yrs.) |
Bad |
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15. Amon |
642-640 (2 yrs.) |
Bad |
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16. Josiah |
640-608 (31 yrs.) |
Good |
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Jeremiah |
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17. Jehoahaz |
608 (3 mos.) |
Bad |
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18. Jehoiakim |
608-597 (11 yrs.) |
Bad |
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19. Jehoiachin |
597 (3 mos.) |
Bad |
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20. Zedekiah |
597-586 (11 yrs.) |
Bad |
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(Destruction of Jerusalem and captivity of Judah) |
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* Co-regency |
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Chronological Table of the Divided Kingdom |
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Kingdom of Israel |
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King |
Reign |
Character |
Prophet |
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1. Jeroboam I |
931-910 B.C. (22 yrs.) |
Bad |
Ahijah |
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2. Nadab |
910-909 (2 yrs.) |
Bad |
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3. Baasha |
909-886 (24 yrs.) |
Bad |
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4. Elah |
886-885 (2 yrs.) |
Bad |
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5. Zimri |
885 (7 days) |
Bad |
Elijah Micaiah |
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6. Omri |
885-874* (12 yrs.) |
Bad |
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7. Ahab |
874-853 (22 yrs.) |
Bad |
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8. Ahaziah |
853-852 (2 yrs.) |
Bad |
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9. Joram |
852-841 (12 yrs.) |
Bad |
Elisha |
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10. Jehu |
841-814 (28 yrs.) |
Bad |
Jonah Amos Hosea |
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11. Jehoahaz |
814-798 (17 yrs.) |
Bad |
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12. Jehoash |
798-782 (16 yrs.) |
Bad |
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13. Jeroboam II |
782-753* (41 yrs.) |
Bad |
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14. Zechariah |
753-752 (6 mos.) |
Bad |
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15. Shallum |
752 (1 mo.) |
Bad |
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16. Menahem |
752-742 (10 yrs.) |
Bad |
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17. Pekahiah |
742-740 (2 yrs.) |
Bad |
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18. Pekah |
740-732* (20 yrs.) |
Bad |
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19. Hoshea |
732-721 (9 yrs.) |
Bad |
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(Capture of Samaria and captivity of Israel) |
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* Co-regency |
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The Babylonian Captivity Facts and Dates
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Babylonian Kings |
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Babylonian Captivity Deportations |
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Nabopolassar |
626-604 BC |
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Date |
605BC |
597BC |
586BC |
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Nebuchadnezzar |
604-561 BC |
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Deported To |
Kings Court |
Nebuchadnezzar’s Canal |
Nebuchadnezzar’s Canal |
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Amel-Marduk (Evil Merodach) |
561-559 BC |
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Deportees |
Key Royal Families |
10,000 + King |
Rest + king |
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Nergal-sharusur (Neriglissar) |
559-555 BC |
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Notable Deportees |
Daniel & Friends |
King Jehoiachin, Ezekiel, 10,000 Skilled Craftsmen |
King Zedekiah, Balance of the people |
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Labashi - marduk |
555 BC |
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Nabunaid (Nabonidus) |
555-539 BC |
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Belshazzar |
553-539 BC |
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Babylonian Captivity Returns |
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Media -Persian Kings |
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Date |
538 BC |
458 BC |
444 BC |
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Cyrus |
538-529 BC |
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Leader |
Zerubbabel |
Ezra |
Nehemiah |
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Cambyses |
529-521 BC |
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Work |
Build Temple |
Read / Translated Law |
Rebuild the Walls of Jerusalem |
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Smerdis |
521 BC |
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Reference |
Ezra 1-6 |
Ezra 8,10; Nehemiah 10 |
Nehemiah 2; Daniel 9:25 |
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Darius I |
521-485 BC |
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Xerxes I - Ahasuerus |
485-464 BC |
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Artaxerxes I - Longimanus |
464-423 BC |
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Xerxes II |
423 BC |
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Darius II |
423-404 BC |
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Artaxerxes II |
404-358 |
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1. Cyrus’ Proclamation (Ezra 1:1-4) in 538 BC Fulfilled Jeremiah’s Prophecy: Jeremiah 25:11-14; 29:10 2. Isaiah had prophesied about Cyrus and even naming him 150 before this: Isiah 44:21-28; 45:1- 5. 3. Cyrus conquered Babylon on October 12, 539 BC, and personally entered it October 29, 539 BC 4. The Temple is begun in 536 BC, The exile only lasts 50 years after 538 BC. 70 Years figured from 605 BC 5. The Rebuilding discontinued in 534 BC, and resumed in 520 BC., completed in 515 BC. 6. Rebuilding begun under Cyrus and completed under Darius I |
I. Habakkuk’s First Question
Habakkuk 1:1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
Toward the end of the reign of Judah, God brought a revival sparked by the Word of God. But the people seemed to only desire an external experience But God was on the scene:
Sometime before the Babylonian Captivity of Judah, the prophet Habakkuk had a “burden” (Hebrew masa, [4853] meaning literally “a heavy object or something to be lifted up”, but here figuratively like other Old Testament prophets means a “prophetic judgment that is eminent”. This judgment was concerning his country of Judah. His people had experienced a revival of Temple Worship and observing of the Passover, after the good King Josiah had torn down the high places in which the people had participated in evil Pagan idolatry and remodeled the neglected temple of God. The Word of God was found hidden in the walls of the temple, and when it was read to the people a revival broke out.
The revival was short lived, however, and after Josiah’s death, King Jehoikim rebuilt the high places and refused to pay tribute to Babylon, as God had instructed. Instead of putting his trust in God’s Word, Jehoikim put his faith in the protective power of Egypt. Babylon was, in Habakkuk’s time, becoming a power to reckon with; but was not yet a world power. Babylon however was ruthless and ungodly.
Jeremiah prophesied to Judah during the revival in Josiah’s time; let’s look at a sample of God’s Words through Jeremiah at this time:
Jeremiah 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Jeremiah 4:1 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.
Jeremiah 4:2 And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
Jeremiah 4:3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Jeremiah 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
But the people did not adhere to the Lord’s Words:
Jeremiah 7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jeremiah 7:2 Stand in the gate of the LORD’S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.
Jeremiah 7:3 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
Jeremiah 7:4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.
Jeremiah 7:5 For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
Jeremiah 7:6 If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
Jeremiah 7:7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
Jeremiah 7:8 Behold, ye trust in lying words that cannot profit.
Jeremiah 7:9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
Jeremiah 7:10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
Jeremiah 7:11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.
The people were going to the temple, but listening to the false prophets.
What were some of these lying words? Ezekiel tells us from Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar’s second invasion of Judah. The people’s problem was a form of psychology, much like in our day, along with gross idolatry:
Ezekiel 18:2 What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?
Isn’t it amazing that Judah had the same problem we have today – Psychology, in other words, “my problems stem from my parents, or society, etc.” Blame your own sin on someone or something. You see, the people were listening to the false prophets and not God. They were saying something like: “We are idolaters because our parents were idolaters”.
The people put their trust in the teaching of the day rather than trust in God – This will bring judgment, but when?
Habakkuk 1:2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!
Habakkuk 1:3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.
Habakkuk 1:4 Therefore the law is slacked and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
Habakkuk could see the developing sin, Judah had turned away from God. Because of this, even the courts were unjust. Sounds like the condition of the United States today. Habakkuk wondered why God had not judged the people of Judah. Habakkuk was grieved in his heart and wondered if God was going to intervene. God first gave Habakkuk a marvelous answer telling Habakkuk that he needed to expand his vision:
Ezekiel also saw the condition of God’s people and prophesied after God gave him a vision deep inside the temple in Jerusalem concerning what came to be known as the Babylonian Captivity.
Ezekiel 8:2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.
Ezekiel 8:3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.
Ezekiel 8:4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.
The Image of Jealousy
Ezekiel 8:5 Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.
Ezekiel 8:6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, 5 Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.
Paintings on the Wall
Ezekiel 8:7And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.
Ezekiel 8:8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.
Ezekiel 8:9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.
Ezekiel 8:10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.
Ezekiel 8:11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shahan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.
Ezekiel 8:12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.
Weeping for Tammuz – (Egyptian god of flocks)
Ezekiel 8:13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.
Ezekiel 8:14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
Sun Worship
Ezekiel 8:15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen [this], O son of man? turn thee yet again, [and] thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
Ezekiel 8:16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, [were] about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
Now Look What the Lord Said…
Ezekiel 8:17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen [this], O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.
Ezekiel 8:18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, [yet] will I not hear them.
It is Judgment time for the Nation of Judah
II. God’s Reply Extending into the Future
Habakkuk 1:5 Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.
Now this may not look on the surface as extending way into the future, But Paul and Isaiah interpret it for us:
1.) Paul quotes Habakkuk in Acts, but concerning Jesus Christ that many would not believe, even though it was prophesied:
Acts 13:36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
Acts 13:37 But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.
Acts 13:38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
Acts 13:39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Acts 13:40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;
Acts 13:41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
2.) Isaiah gives the same thought concerning the Messiah:
Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Isaiah 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
God’s eternal answer to Habakkuk’s 1st question 1st answered at the 1st Advent
III. God’s Reply with Future Perspective
Habakkuk 1:6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.
Habakkuk 1:7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
Habakkuk 1:8 Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.
Habakkuk 1:9 They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
Habakkuk 1:10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.
Habakkuk 1:11 Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.
God is going to Use the Babylonians to Judge Judah-And Then Judge Babylon
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…That bitter and Hasty Nation |
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Daniel 4:1 Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.
Daniel 4:2 I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me.
Daniel 4:3 How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.