seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Habakkuk 1:1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.
2 How long, Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.
5 “Look at the nations and watch—
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told.
6 I am raising up the Babylonians,[a]
that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are a feared and dreaded people;
they are a law to themselves
and promote their own honor.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
9 they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind
and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They mock kings
and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
by building earthen ramps they capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told.
6 I am raising up the Babylonians,[a]
that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are a feared and dreaded people;
they are a law to themselves
and promote their own honor.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
9 they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind
and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They mock kings
and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
by building earthen ramps they capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”
12 Lord, are you not from everlasting?
My God, my Holy One, you[c] will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;
you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,
he catches them in his net,
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and burns incense to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
and enjoys the choicest food.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
destroying nations without mercy?
My God, my Holy One, you[c] will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;
you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,
he catches them in his net,
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and burns incense to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
and enjoys the choicest food.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
destroying nations without mercy?
- a. Habakkuk 1:6 Or Chaldeans
- b. Habakkuk 1:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- c. Habakkuk 1:12 An ancient Hebrew scribal tradition; Masoretic Text we
This is from the easy English site.
Habakkuk lived about 600 years B.C. He lived in the country called Judah. There is a list of the kings of Judah in the notes at the beginning of Zephaniah in this set of books.
The country that ruled that part of the world until 612 B.C. was Assyria. In 612 B.C. a country called Babylon beat Assyria. Then the Babylonians ruled that part of the world. Both the Assyrians and the Babylonians loved and obeyed false gods. Habakkuk thought that the king and other leaders of the people of Judah did not rule well. Many leaders did bad things and nothing could stop them. These leaders did very cruel things to the people in Judah. We call this ‘oppression’. These leaders did not obey the covenant that they had with God. A covenant is when two people or groups agree. Here the two are God and the people in Judah. God said that wanted to be kind to Judah’s people. They should love him and they should obey him. If they did that, he would be kind to them. But the leaders did not love and obey God. So, God said that he would punish Judah’s people. Punish means ‘hurt someone when they do something wrong’.
God chose the Babylonians to punish the leaders of Judah. The trouble was that they punished the people in Judah with the leaders. Since 625 B.C. Babylon had become a powerful country. They destroyed many countries and, in 612 B.C., they destroyed Assyria. Then they destroyed Egypt in 605 B.C. Later, in 586 B.C., they destroyed Judah also. There is more about Assyria in the notes at the beginning of Nahum in this set of books.
Habakkuk did not understand this. He knew that someone must punish Judah. But he did not know why it should be the Babylonians. The Babylonians were very bad and cruel people. The Babylonians loved and obeyed false gods. In his book, Habakkuk talks to God:
in chapter 1 he asks God a question. Would God ever answer when Habakkuk prayed to God?
in chapter 2 he waits for God’s answer. God says that he will punish the Babylonians later. The whole world would see what God would do.
in chapter 3 Habakkuk says that he believes that God will do this. God will punish the Babylonians and he will make Judah safe.
Habakkuk had two problems:
- 1) In Judah, people did not obey God’s rules. Habakkuk did not understand why God did nothing to make them obey him (Habakkuk 1:2-4).
- 2) God told Habakkuk that he would do something. But Habakkuk thought that this was not possible. He did not understand how God could use wicked people (like the Babylonians) to punish Judah’s people. Judah’s people were not as wicked as the Babylonians! (See Habakkuk 1:12-17.)
The LORD says that he will do something. He will punish his people in Judah. But he will use the Babylonians to do it! This will surprise people like Habakkuk. It will surprise them because the Babylonians have false gods. They are wicked people. There is a lot of sand in the desert. So verse 9 means that they will put a lot of people into prison.
Habakkuk shows his surprise. Surely God cannot use people like the Babylonians! God is holy and clean and righteous! Surely he cannot even look at these wicked people! The prophet says that he will watch for the answer. He will stand on something high, like the walls of the city (of Jerusalem) or one of its towers. A tower is a high building.
This is from the bibletrack.org site.
The Hebrew word for "burden" in verse 1 is "massa." It is used to describe the load a work animal carries, but it is also used in a spiritual sense, as here, to describe a heavy oracle. It might be easy to misunderstand these verses. The injustices of these verses do not refer to the Babylonian injustices to Judah, but rather to the Jewish people themselves demonstrating wickedness toward one another. After King Josiah's death, there was not another good king over Judah. For the purposes of this discussion, note the succession of the last five kings of Judah:
- Josiah 640 - 609 (the last good king)
- Jehoahaz 609 - 609 (Josiah’s third son, usually called Shallum - bad king - 3-month rule)
- Jehoiakim 609 - 598 (Josiah's second son - puppet king who never really had a chance)
- Jehoiachin 598 - 597 (Jehoiakim's son - puppet king who never really had a chance)
- Zedekiah 597 - 586 (Josiah's son - his original name was Mattaniah - puppet king up to the fall of Jerusalem)
It would appear from this passage that this first vision from God takes place before the fall of the Assyrians to the Babylonians - prior to 605 B.C. Reference is made to the coming of the Babylonian Empire being raised up by God ("Chaldeans" is a direct reference to the people of Babylon). That's a heavy concept! God takes credit for the Babylonians. I am amused with the conversational tone of verse 5. Please allow me to paraphrase God, "You're just not going to believe what I am about to tell you!" Then God tells Habakkuk about the Babylonians who will be raised up to conquer the Assyrians and punish Judah. As a matter of fact, the Apostle Paul found verse 5 amusing as well; he quotes it to his Jewish audience in Acts 13:41 .
Habakkuk queries God on how He can use such a wicked people as the Babylonians to punish Judah/Israel. There's the question in verse 13, "...holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?" Yeah, the people of Judah are wicked, but the Babylonians are even more wicked. Shouldn't a nation be required to be at least a little more righteous than Judah/Jerusalem to get the destruction assignment? We see in verses 14-17 that the Babylonians will treat the Hebrews like fish, capturing them in masses as one catches fish in a net.
I don't know what to say about this. The Assyrians were horrible people..... but then God sent worse people..... and that really got to Habakkuk. He just could not believe that the "Wonderful God" could let those horrible horrible horrible people get to God's good people.
Think about the most horrific thing that could happen..... that's satan's plan. Now think of that horrific thing is wiped away.... that's God's plan. God's plan makes satan's plan look stupid. God may have a hard time looking at evil..... like a starving baby..... but He's has no trouble at all about wiping out the evil plan that would cause that baby to starve. God made the angels.... and satan is only an angel..... so God knows satan's thoughts too..... God can handle it.
IMHO....Habakkuk is just utterly amazed that God would use such evil people to do such good work. Cleaning out the Temple.... and getting humans back in good graces..... well that was important work.... and those evil people were just mean enough to do it without question.
