The opening series of articles under this caption will expound the prophecy of Habakkuk. It is hoped that the series will become a basis for Bible study and marking. It is easy to “flip over” expositional articles because they are “heavier” reading, and you may not have kept up with previous…
The Prophecy of Habakkuk Read More »
1:1-4 Habakkuk Complains to God About Judah’s Lawlessness and the Triumph of Iniquity
1:1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. RSV – “The oracle of God which Habakkuk the prophet saw.”
“The burden” – Hebrew – ‘masa’ – an oracle, revelation, utterance or prophecy. In…
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness, but the vision awaits its time; it hastens to its end—it will not lie. If it seems slow wait for it, it will surely come, it will not delay. With this assurance before him, Habakkuk had come to learn as we all must do, that,…
1:6 For, lo, I raise up (RSV ‘I am rousing up’) the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation (Roth ‘bitter and headlong nation’) which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs.
“For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans”- It is possible …
The description of Israel’s devastation was so terrifying that Habakkuk is faced with a new problem. The punishment for one evil was creating an even greater evil and the problem of reconciling this with Yahweh’s character was perplexing. From the fact that there is no mention of Israel survivin…
As Chapter 2 commences, God again answers Habakkuk. The argumentative prophet is told that he must faithfully await the outworking of Divine justice. He had presumed to question God’s justice without full knowledge of His will and had drawn wrong conclusions in chapter 1:12-17. He had not believ…
The five woes which God pronounced upon evil doers restored Habakkuk’s confidence in Yahweh’s commitment to justice. They form the remainder of chapter 2 and have primary and secondary applications as follows.
Primarily the prophecy applies to the Chaldean power which destroyed and oppressed…
2:9-11 Second Woe: Woe to Those Moved by Greed and Covetousness
2:9 “Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!”
These words apply to:-
The Chaldean exploitation and deportation of Y…
2:15–17 Fourth Woe: Woe to Those Given to Intemperance and Licentiousness.
2:15 “Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!”— RSV “Woe to him that makes his neighbour drink of the…
3:4 And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.
“his brightness was as the light”
1 The figure of the sun is taken from Deut 33:2. See notes verse 3.
2 On the spiritual plain Jesus Christ is the “light of the wor…
