Habakkuk Commentary

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Commentary to Habakkuk - Rev. John Schultz
HABAKKUK
The Name and Background of Habakkuk:

The name Habakkuk means: “The cordially embraced one (favorite of God), or the cordial
embracer.” Luther writes about Habakkuk: “A man of heart, hearty toward another, taking him into his arms.
This Habakkuk does in his prophecy; he comforts and lifts up his people, as one would do with a weeping
child, bidding him be quiet, because, please God, it would yet be better with him.” According to The
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, “Some of the ancient rabbis, connecting the name with 2
Kings 4:16, ‘Thou shalt embrace a son,’ imagined that the prophet was the son of the Shunammite woman.
The Septuagint form of the name, Hambakoum; Theodotion Hambakouk presupposes the Hebrew
chabbaquq. A similar word occurs in Assyrian as the name of a garden plant.”
The Date of the Writing of the Book:

Nothing is known about the prophet Habakkuk except his name. He appears in the book as a
sensitive and courageous person. As the book Nahum, the Hebrew of this book is a literary masterpiece. The
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia states about the style: “Only the Hebrew student can get an
adequate idea of the literary excellence of the Book of Habakkuk. ‘The literary power of Habakkuk,’ says
Driver, ‘is considerable. Though his book is a brief one, it is full of force; his descriptions are graphic and
powerful; thought and expression are alike poetic; he is still a master of the old classical style, terse,
parallelistic, pregnant; there is no trace of the often prosaic diffusiveness which manifests itself in the
writings of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. And if chapter 3 be his, he is, moreover, a lyric poet of high order; the
grand imagery and the rhythmic flow of this ode will bear comparison with some of the finest productions of
the Hebrew muse.” Since Habakkuk announced the coming destruction of Judah, it had to be written some
time before the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 587 B.C. Most commentators date the book about 600
B.C. The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia states: “Nebuchadnezzar advanced against Judah
about 600 BC; but the years since the fall of Nineveh, in 607-606, and the battle of Carchemish, in 605-604,
had given abundant opportunity to the Chaldaeans to reveal their true character, and to the prophet and his
contemporaries to become acquainted with this cruel successor of Nineveh. On this theory, therefore, the
prophetic activity of Habakkuk must be assigned to shortly before 600 BC. … If Habakkuk prophesied about
600 BC, he lived under King Jehoiakim. The pious and well-meaning Josiah had been slain in an attempt to
stop the advance of Egypt against Assyria. With his death the brief era of reform came to an end. After a
reign of three months Jehoahaz was deposed by Pharaohnecoh, who placed Jehoiakim on the throne. The
latter was selfish, tyrannical and godless. In a short time the deplorable conditions of Manasseh’s reign
returned. It was this situation that caused the prophet’s first perplexity: ‘O Yahweh, how long shall I cry, and
thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save’ (Hab 1:2).”
The Fausset’s Bible Dictionary states about the date of the prophet’s writing: “He probably
prophesied in the 12th or 13th year of Josiah (630 or 629 B.C.), for the words "in your days" (Hab 1:5)
imply that the prophecy would come to pass in the lifetime of the persons addressed. In Jer 16:9 the same
phrase comprises 20 years, in Ezek 12:25 six years. Zeph 1:7 is an imitation of Hab 2:20; now Zephaniah
(Zeph 1:1) lived under Josiah, and prophesied (compare Zeph 3:5,15) after the restoration of Jehovah's
worship, i.e. after the 12th year of Josiah's reign, about 624 B.C. So Habakkuk must have been before this.
Jeremiah moreover began prophesying in Josiah's 13th year; now Jeremiah borrows from Habakkuk
(compare Hab 2:13 with Jer 51:58); thus, it follows that 630 or 629 B.C. is Habakkuk's date of prophesying
(Delitzsch).”
The Character of the Book:

Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary observes: “The Protestant Reformation under Martin Luther
was influenced by the Book of Habakkuk. Luther’s discovery of the biblical doctrine that the just shall live
by faith came from his study of the apostle Paul’s beliefs in the Books of Romans and Galatians. But Paul’s
famous declaration, ‘The just shall live by faith’ (Rom 1:17), is a direct quotation from Hab 2:4. Thus, in
this brief prophetic book, we find the seeds of the glorious gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Habakkuk begins his book with a cry of woe. Injustice is rampant, the righteous are surrounded by the
wicked, the law is powerless, and God doesn’t seem to care about the plight of His people (1:1-4).
Habakkuk’s prophecy is even introduced as a "burden" which the prophet saw (1:1). He wonders why God is
allowing these things to happen. God’s reply brings little comfort to the prophet. He explains that the armies
of Babylon are moving throughout the ancient world on a campaign of death and destruction. At the time
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when Habakkuk received this vision, the Babylonians had already defeated Assyria and Egypt. The
implication is that Habakkuk’s nation, Judah, will be the next to fall. The prophet was shocked at the news.
He reminded God of His justice and holiness (1:12-13). How could He use the wicked Babylonians to
destroy His Chosen People? Surely He realized the sins of His people were as nothing, when compared to
the pagan Babylonians (1:13). ‘Why do you...hold your tongue when the wicked devours one more righteous
than he?’ he asks (1:13). This direct question indicates Habakkuk’s great faith. Only a person very close to
God would dare question the purposes of the Almighty so boldly. God assures Habakkuk that the
Babylonians will prevail not because they are righteous but because they are temporary instruments of
judgment in His hands (2:4). Then he pronounces five burdens of woe against the Babylonians
(2:6,9,12,15,19). God will not be mocked; the end of the Babylonians is as certain as the judgment they will
bring on Judah. In all of this, God will vindicate His righteous character: ‘For the earth will be filled with
the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea’ (2:14). After this assurance, Habakkuk
breaks out with the beautiful psalm of praise to God contained in chapter 3 of Habakkuk. This is one of the
greatest testimonies of faith in the Bible.” The Pulpit Commentary states about the character of this book:
“There is something very striking in the style of Habakkuk. In grandeur and magnificence it is perhaps
equaled by other of the prophets; language as pure, power as concentrated, may be found elsewhere; but the
extended colloquy between God and the prophet, and the exquisitely beautiful ode which forms the
conclusion of the prophecy, are unique. We know not whether most to admire the idea set forth, or the
images under which it is developed. How terrible are the threatenings and announcements! how bitter the
derision! how sweet and tender the promises of mercy and love! The past, the present, and the future are
presented in vivid colors. Difficult, almost impossible, as it was for a prophet, confined to one circle of
ideas, to be original, Habakkuk has given a new form to old conceptions, and brightened the notions or
earlier seers with the splendor of imagery all his own, and with harmonious diction which is surpassed by no
other sacred poet. The final ode may be set beside the two grand psalms, the eighteenth and the sixty-eighth,
and will not suffer by the comparison.”
Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary suggests the following

Outline of the Book:
I. The Questions of Habakkuk 1:1--2:20
A. The First Question 1:1-4
B. God’s First Reply 1:5-11
C. The Second Question of Habakkuk 1:12--2:1
D. God’s Second Reply 2:2-20
II. The Praise of Habakkuk 3
A. Habakkuk Prays for God’s Mercy 3:1-2
B. Habakkuk Remembers God’s Mercy 3:3-15
C. Habakkuk Trusts in God’s Salvation 3:16-19
The Text of the Book Habakkuk:

I. The Questions of Habakkuk 1:1--2:20
A. The First Question 1:1-4
1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received.

2 How long, O 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 wrong? 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.
Habakkuk calls his prophecy an “oracle.” Nahum, Zechariah, and Malachi use the same word for
the prophecies they pronounce. The Hebrew word is massa’, which literally means “a burden.” The KJV
renders it as such: “The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.” The same word is used in different

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contexts, indicating a load carried by an animal. We read in Exodus: “If you see the donkey of someone who
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hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it.” It also has the
meaning of a responsibility as in: “Aaron and his sons are to go into the sanctuary and assign to each man his
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work and what he is to carry,” and: “Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his
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responsibility because he was skillful at it.” It has a non-physical meaning in Moses’ complaint about his
heavy responsibility as leader of the people of Israel: “But how can I bear your problems and your burdens
and your disputes all by myself?” The use of the word seems particularly meaningful in the context of
Habakkuk’s prophecy. What Habakkuk had to say lay as a heavy burden on his heart.
Jeremiah devotes several verses to the varied meaning of the word, which is demonstrated most
clearly in the KJV’s rendering of the verses: “And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee,
saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake
you, saith the LORD. And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the
LORD, I will even punish that man and his house. Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbor, and every one
to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken? And the burden of the
LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words
of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God. Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD
answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken? But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus
saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye
shall not say, The burden of the LORD; Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake
you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence: And I will bring an
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everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.”
B. God’s First Reply 1:5-11
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, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole
earth to seize dwelling places 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 a vulture swooping to devour;
9 they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like
sand.
10 They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and
capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on- guilty men, whose own strength is their god."
Habakkuk’s first question is a very frank one. As was mentioned above, without an intimate
fellowship with God, such words could never be spoken. The prophet reminds us of David’s frankness in the
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psalms: “Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty; listen to me, O God of Jacob.” Habakkuk’s question
basically amounts to “why?” Habakkuk’s eye in this is upon his own people, not upon the threat of a foreign
nation. The Pulpit Commentary states: “The Hebrew is taken to imply that the prophet had long been
complaining of the moral depravity of Judah, and calling for help against it. There is no reference here … to
acts of violence committed by the Chaldeans, who, in fact, are announced as coming to chastise the
wickedness of the chosen people.”
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Ex. 23:5
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Num. 4:19
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I Chron 15:22
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Jer. 23:33-40 (KJV)
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Ps. 84:8

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Habakkuk’s cry amounts to someone’s shout “Help!” or “Fire.” It is a signal of utmost distress
about the morally corrupt condition of the nation of Israel. The vividness of the cry in combination with the
intimate relationship the prophet must have enjoyed with God present us with a very dramatic situation. This
becomes the more gripping when we see in the continuation that God remains silent. Habakkuk finds himself
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in a position where the Father does seem to give His child a stone for bread. We can hardly overemphasize
the intensity of this testing of the prophet’s faith. A whole nation is going to hell and God does not seem to
care. The scene Habakkuk is facing goes beyond the aches, pains, and death of individual suffering, it
acquires cosmic proportions. It forces the question upon us: “Does God Care?”
Habakkuk’s cry reveals the intensity of his reaction to the injustice that rules his country. The
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary believes that the prophecy refers to the reign of King
Jehoiakim. We read: “Jehoiakim’s reign was marked by injustice, treachery, and bloodshed (Jer 22:3,13-17).
Therefore the Chaldeans should be sent to deal with him and his nobles according to their dealings with
others.” David’s complaint centuries early is relevant here: “When the foundations are being destroyed, what
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can the righteous do?”
Habakkuk’s position reminds us of similar circumstances when Martha and Mary called upon Jesus
to come and heal their sick brother Lazarus. We read in John’s Gospel: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He
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was.” Neither Habakkuk nor Lazarus’ sisters understood that God’s failure to respond was motivated by
His love. This is even more difficult to discern in the case of Habakkuk. The prophet came to the same
conclusion as Martha and Mary did; otherwise, he could never have concluded his prophecy with: “Yet I will
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rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”
The prophet’s initial approach is sound. He observes Israel’s condition as a chosen people, the ones
to whom God had entrusted the revelation of Himself in this world. He knew that they were meant to be a
kingdom of priests, people who exemplified the character of God. What they had become was a gross
caricature. His reaction to this is: “I don’t want to see it.” This is the paraphrase of his words: “Why do you
make me look at injustice?” He is like people in modern times who do not want to look at television
because there is too much suffering and disaster in the world. Evidently, God does not want him to put his
head in the sand as an ostrich. The second part of his reaction is: “Why doesn’t God do something about
this?” Survivors of Nazi concentration camps have often asked the question. Since the demise of Hitler,
there have been multiple situations in which the question has arisen. The list of horrors is too long to write
down. How can sadism and atrocity stay alive in a world created by a loving God?
How do Christians react to similar situations? Corrie ten Boom and Elli Weiss both survived the
horrors of a Nazi camp. Weiss was left a broken man whose God had died with his soul in the camp; Corrie
came out a torch flaming with the Gospel message of God’s love.
There is a pattern in the Bible of suffering under God’s apparent silence, while hope remains the
only focus, the light at the end of the tunnel. This pattern is nowhere more clearly exemplified than in the
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suffering of Jesus, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross.” This hope is the hope of
resurrection that keeps God’s children persevering in the dark. Habakkuk had this hope, even though he was
unable to verbalize it.
The prophet is correct in maintaining that Israel’s condition is incongruent with the character of
God. God had given His perfect law to the nation that guaranteed righteousness and justice. Now the law is
paralyzed in Israel and justice has become impotent. After centuries of possessing the law, Israel had
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returned to the times of the Book of Judges when: “Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” And
what people “saw fit” was not good. The words: “The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is
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See Matt.7:9
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Ps. 11:3
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John 11:5,6 (NKJV)
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ch. 3:18
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Heb. 12:2
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Judg. 21:25

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perverted” indicate that there were still some righteous people left, but they were put under such pressure
that their testimony had become ineffective. The perversion of justice means that a façade of justice was
maintained; courts were convened and justices pronounced verdicts, but the content was hollow. People
were executed for crimes they had not committed and criminals were promoted to higher offices. The world
has not changed much since the times of Habakkuk.
God’s answer is even more disturbing than Habakkuk’s complaint. It sounds as if God’s remedy is
worse than the illness. God announces the coming of the “Babylonians.” The Hebrew uses the word
Kasdiym, which means “Chaldeans.” The Pulpit Commentary explains: “By this appellation the prophets
signify the soldiers or inhabitants of Babylon, which won its independence and commenced its wonderfully
rapid career of conquest after the fall of Nineveh, between B.C. 626 and 608. At that time when Habakkuk
wrote the Chaldeans had not appeared in Judea, and no apprehension of danger from them was entertained.”
A sense of amazement is conveyed in the most compelling manner. It is almost as if God Himself is
just as amazed about what is going to happen as the people. In the light of God’s omniscience and
immutability, it is inconceivable to us that God could be amazed about anything, yet this is the feeling that is
communicated to us here. It is as if God says to Himself: “How could I let this happen?” This thought
corresponds to the human reaction to certain events in world history: “How could God let this happen?” We
look for instance at the horror of what is commonly called “The Holocaust”; the question has as yet never
been clearly answered. But then, the same question can be asked about the crucifixion. Jesus Himself has
asked it! “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’-which
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means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ ” The question is the answer! Our problem is that,
in our inability to understand the character of the Eternal, we fail to see that our human emotions are a
reflection of His emotions. God is more horrified about the Holocaust and the crucifixion than we can ever
be. The same sentiment is evinced in the words: “The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth,
and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the
face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am
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grieved that I have made them.’ ”
Israel’s condition in Habakkuk’s days was so horrible that God was forced to take the most extreme
measures of punishment. The most radical step God can ever take is to let evil have its own way. When God
takes away the brakes, the vehicle races down the hill to its own destruction.
The Matthew Henry’s Commentary comments: “An amazing punishment, so strange and
surprising, and so much out of the common road of Providence, that it shall not be paralleled among the
heathen, shall be sorer and heavier than what God has usually inflicted upon the nations that know him not;
nay, it shall not be credited even by those that had the prediction of it from God before it comes, or the report
of it from those that were eye-witnesses of it when it comes: You will not believe it, though it be told you; it
will be thought incredible that so many judgments should combine in one, and every circumstance so
strangely concur to enforce and aggravate it, that so great and potent a nation should be so reduced and
broken, and that God should deal so severely with a people that had been taken into the bond of the covenant
and that he had done so much for. The punishment of God’s professing people cannot but be the
astonishment of all about them.”
The apostle Paul put things for us in their right historical perspective when he quoted Habakkuk in
the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch. Comparing the Jews’ rejection of the Gospel to the moral corruption of
Israel, he warned: “Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that
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you would never believe, even if someone told you.” If events on earth can cause such consternation that
even God recoils from them in heaven, how much greater horror should we feel about hell? Jesus reserved
His sternest warnings about the fate of those who reject God’s love: “If anyone causes one of these little
ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied
around his neck. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with
two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is
better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you
to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and
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Matt. 27:46
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Gen. 6:6-8
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Acts 13:41

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be thrown into hell, where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ ” We may not be able to
understand this, but I firmly believe that God recoils in horror from hell. How much more should we!
Habakkuk describes the imperialistic character of the Babylonians in a vivid way. TLB adds color
with the paraphrase: “the Chaldeans, a cruel and violent nation who will march across the world and conquer
it. They are notorious for their cruelty. They do as they like, and no one can interfere.” Habakkuk describes
them as “a ruthless and impetuous people” who “are a law to themselves.” Those of us who can remember
World War II, especially in the European scene, can better understand this description, which is similar to
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Hitler’s “Herrenvolk” that intended to conquer and subdue the earth.
The scene is only surpassed in the Bible by John’s description of the demonic army that will sweep
over this planet during the reign of the Antichrist. We read in Revelation: “The fifth angel sounded his
trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of
the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun
and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the
earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the
earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They
were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was
like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. During those days men will seek death, but will not
find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On
their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was
like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and
the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had
tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. They had
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as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.” In
a sense, the invasion of the Babylonian army foreshadows the coming of the Great Tribulation.
The NIV renders vs. 7 interestingly: “They are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.”
The Hebrew reads literally: “Of themselves their judgment and dignity shall proceed.” TLB states: “They do
as they like, and no one can interfere.” Barnes’ Notes observes: “This is a character of antichrist (Dan 11:36;
2 Thess 2:4), a lawless insolence, a lifting up of himself.” Man has no right to set his own laws. The rules of
righteousness are derived from the character of God and the dignity of man consists in the fact that he is the
bearer of God’s image. When God is no longer the reference to man’s moral behavior, wrong becomes right
and shame become honorable. Babylon’s mentality is expressed in the words of King Nebuchadnezzar who
exclaimed: “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the
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glory of my majesty?” God’s judgment instantly stripped the king of his royal dignity and reduced him to
the level of an animal. Actually, what Nebuchadnezzar became was less than an animal because animals still
obey God’s laws.
Habakkuk’s prophecy about the Babylonian invasion conveys a sense of unbelievable speed. The
horses are compared to leopards, which are known for their prodigious swiftness. Speaking about the same
invasion, the prophet Jeremiah exclaims: “Look! He advances like the clouds, his chariots come like a
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whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles.” The Septuagint renders “wolves at dusk” with: “Arabian
wolves.” The comparison with different animals and with the desert wind all emphasizes the pace with which
the Babylonian military campaign unfolds. Their conquest was like a modern “Blitzkrieg.”
The conqueror rejects all human conventions. “They deride kings and scoff at rulers.” And no
defense forms an obstacle to their conquest. The nations that are attacked are simply overrun.
The demonic connection between the Babylonians and the world of darkness is expressed in the
words: “Then they sweep past like the wind and go on- guilty men, whose own strength is their god.” TLB
renders this verse: “They sweep past like wind and are gone, but their guilt is deep, for they claim their power
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Mark 9:42-48
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Literally “Nation of Lords,” the superior race
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Rev. 9:1-11
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Dan. 4:30
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Jer. 4:13

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is from their gods.” The Hebrew is difficult to interpret and reads literally: “Then shall change his mind and
he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.” Barnes’ Notes comments on the text
as it reads in the KJV: “[Then shall his mind change] or, better, ‘Then he sweeps by, chaalap … is used of
the overflowing of a river, Isa 8:8, of a wind chasing, Isa 21:1, of the invisible presence of God passing by,
Job 9:11, or a spirit, Job 4:15, of the swift passing of our days, like ship or eagle, Job 10:26, of idols utterly
passing away. Isa 2:18, of rain past and gone, Song 2:11. It is, together with `aabar… used of transgressing
God’s law, Isa 24:5. It is always intransitive, except as piercing the temples of man (Judg 5:26), or himself
Job 20:24.” The image in this verse may refer to the flooding of the Euphrates River or to the sweeping
desert wind that was typical of the homeland of the Babylonians. The army revealed the features of the land
from which it originated.
We mentioned above that the words: “whose own strength is their god” establishes a link with the
demonic. This remains true, although the immediate meaning is that the Babylonians deified their own
strength. Satan will allow his subjects to imagine themselves on a level equal with the Almighty. Isaiah saw
in the king of Babylon the image of Satan himself who said: “I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I
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will make myself like the Most High.” And Ezekiel, similarly prophesied about the king of Tyre who said:
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“I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas.” Calvin called this: “Sacrilegious
arrogance, in ascribing to his idol, Bel, the glory that belongs to God.”
C. The Second Question of Habakkuk 1:12--2:1
12 O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, you have
appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. 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 men like fish in the sea, like 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?
2:1 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me,
and what answer I am to give to this complaint.
The idolatry and self-glorification of the Babylonians bring the prophet to a heartfelt cry to God to
whom alone glory belongs. Habakkuk knows that the strength of the Babylonians is a lie. The king of
Babylon is not a god and his strength does not make him divine. The king was, like all human beings, a man
who is a bearer of the image of God. In him, however, the image has turned into a caricature. In order to flee
the world of lies and shadows, Habakkuk turns to the reality of God Himself and cries: “O LORD, are you
not from everlasting?”
This appeal to the Eternal suggests that the victory of Babylon is transitory. Babylon is the golden
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head of a statue with feet of clay. The whole Babylonian empire and all its stands for are not eternal. The
apostle John reminds us: “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives
forever.” This is what Habakkuk expresses when he says: “O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God,
my Holy One, we will not die.” Although millions have died throughout the ages as a result of imperialistic
tendencies of empires like Babylon, those who died in the Lord are still alive and will be forever. That is the
comfort that forms the basis of Habakkuk’s profound message.
This does not mean that the prophet was not a prey of conflicting emotions. Time and eternity clash
violently in his short message. He recognizes that Babylon is the instrument of God’s punishment for the
nation of Israel, but that recognition does not answer all the questions about the problem of pain.
20
Isa. 14:14
21
Ezek. 28:2
22
See Dan. 2:26-33

8
Habakkuk’s question penetrates to the core of God’s holiness. He does not ask God: “How can You do this
to us?” but “How can You do this to Yourself?” The answer to this question is beyond human
comprehension. How could we ever understand that God agonizes over human suffering? Yet, the Bible
teaches that He does. In recording Herod’s massacre of the infants of Bethlehem, Matthew quotes a prophecy
that Jeremiah spoke centuries before the event, indicating the grieving of the Holy Spirit: “This is what the
LORD says: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and
23
refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.’ ” God’s silence in Habakkuk’s time
foreshadows the silence of our Lord Jesus Christ in His suffering. Through most of His trial we read: “Jesus
24
remained silent.” In the words of Isaiah: “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his
25
mouth.” If the excesses of sin we sometimes see with our sin-dimmed eyes make us recoil in horror, how
much more will God’s pure eyes hurt at the sight of human cruelty and baseness. When Jeremiah laments:
“Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the
26
slain of my people” ; he reflects not merely on his own emotions but on the passion of God Himself.
The prophet depicts the Babylonian conquest as a fisherman depleting the waters of fish and
worshipping his net in the process. The picture is drawn not from the viewpoint of an avid fisherman but
from the perspective of the fish swimming around in panic and being driven into the net that will end their
life. Not liking to fish myself, I can identify with the poor creatures. The Bible sometimes speaks about
fishing in terms of blessing. The miraculous catch of fish in the Gospels pictures Jesus as the great
fisherman, bringing a professional as Peter to his knees. Those who spread the Gospel are called “Fishers of
27
men.” But Satan, not the Lord, is the great fisherman in Habakkuk’s prophecy. That is what makes the
picture so dark and full of horror.
Habakkuk sees himself as a watchman on the wall who relays the message that is brought in by
runner about the state of the battle. The scene is like the one we read about in the rebellion of Absalom
against David. David had to flee from Jerusalem and was awaiting word from the battlefield. We read:
“While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, the watchman went up to the roof of the
gateway by the wall. As he looked out, he saw a man running alone. The watchman called out to the king and
reported it. The king said, ‘If he is alone, he must have good news.’ And the man came closer and closer.
Then the watchman saw another man running, and he called down to the gatekeeper, ‘Look, another man
running alone!’ The king said, ‘He must be bringing good news, too.’ The watchman said, ‘It seems to me
that the first one runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.’ ‘He’s a good man,’ the king said. ‘He comes with good
news.’ Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, ‘All is well!’ He bowed down before the king with his face to
the ground and said, ‘Praise be to the LORD your God! He has delivered up the men who lifted their hands
28
against my lord the king.’ ” In the age of instant communication in which we live such a scene has lost its
meaning. But Isaiah tells us that God wants us to be like the watchmen of old. The Lord says: “I have posted
watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD,
give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the
29
earth.” We must be watchful in observing the things that happen in this world and in the expectation of the
Lord’s return. As in one of Isaiah’s other prophecies: “ ‘Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman,
30
what is left of the night?’ The watchman replies, ‘Morning is coming, but also the night.’ ” God does not
send us an e-mail and His revelations do not come to us via the web. The speed of God’s communication
23
See Matt. 2:18 and Jer. 31:15
24
Matt. 26:63
25
Isa. 53:7
26
Jer. 9:1
27
Matt. 4:19
28
II Sam. 18:24-28
29
Isa. 62:6,7
30
Isa. 21:11,12

9
with us is the speed of a runner who may take hours or days to reach us with the divine message. It took
Daniel’s angel twenty-one days from the time he devoted himself to prayer to the day the message was
31
delivered. God reveals Himself to those who “set [their] mind to gain understanding and to humble
[themselves] before … God.” We owe these wonderful portions of Scripture to the patience and
perseverance of men like Daniel and Habakkuk.
Habakkuk fully expects God to answer his question. Yet, God rarely answers us when we ask
“why?” We will see at the end of Habakkuk’s prophecy that the answer had not come. Better stated, God’s
answers go beyond our questions. God answered Habakkuk in a much deeper way than he could ever ask.
Habakkuk had asked God: “How could You do this to me?” and then: “How could You do this to
Yourself?” The question is the answer!
We have to look at God’s answer given to Habakkuk in the light of the whole message of the Bible.
The revelation that the prophet had to write down clearly on the tablet and that the runner had to broadcast
turns out to be the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For the year 2000, the Christian and Missionary
Alliance took the theme for its missions’ conferences from Habakkuk’s prophecy: “Run with the Message.”
Our Lord Jesus gave the widest scope possible to His disciples when He told them: “And this gospel of the
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kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
The Wycliffe Bible Commentary states: “These three verses contain what is perhaps the most
difficult section of the prophecy, both from the standpoint of translation and from that of interpretation.”
For centuries, scholars have debated the question whether Habakkuk literally climbed a tower or
whether the prophet uses an image to depict a mental and spiritual attitude, similar to Jesus’ admonition to
33
those who pray to “go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.” The Keil &
Delitzsch Commentary comments: “The question is a disputed one, whether this command is to be
understood literally or merely figuratively, ‘simply denoting the great importance of the prophecy, and the
consequent necessity for it to be made accessible to the whole nation’ ” The same Commentary continues:
“Calvin brings out the first idea. [He] observes, that ‘the watch-tower is the recesses of the mind, where we
withdraw ourselves from the world;’ and then adds by way of explanation, ‘The prophet, under the name of
the watchtower, implies that he extricates himself as it were from the thoughts of the flesh, because there
would be no end or measure, if he wished to judge according to his own perception.’ ” The Matthew
Henry’s Commentary suggests: “The prophet’s standing upon his tower, or high place, intimates his
prudence, in making use of the helps and means he had within his reach to know the mind of God, and to be
instructed concerning it. Those that expect to hear from God must withdraw from the world, and get above
it, must raise their attention, fix their thought, study the scriptures, consult experiences and the experienced,
continue instant in prayer, and thus set themselves upon the tower. His standing upon his watch intimates his
patience, his constancy and resolution; he will wait the time, and weather the point, as a watchman does, but
he will have an answer; he will know what God will say to him, not only for his own satisfaction, but to
enable him as a prophet to give satisfaction to others, and answer their exceptions, when he is reproved or
argued with. Herein the prophet is an example to us.” It is noteworthy to observe that, up to this point,
Habakkuk has spoken to God without receiving an answer to his complaints. It is when he withdraws and
becomes silent that he hears God speaking to him.
D. God’s Second Reply 2:2-20
2 Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may
run with it.
3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it
linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.
4 "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright- but the righteous will live by his faith-
5 indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and
like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.
31
Dan. 10: 12,13
32
Matt. 24:14
33
Matt. 6:6

10
6 "Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, "`Woe to him who piles up stolen
goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’
7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will
become their victim.
8 Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have
shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.
9 "Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of
ruin!
10 You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.
11 The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.
12 "Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime!
13 Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the
nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
15 "Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so
that he can gaze on their naked bodies.
16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed! The cup
from the LORD’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.
17 The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will
terrify you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.
18 "Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who
makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
19 Woe to him who says to wood, `Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, `Wake up!’ Can it give guidance?
It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.
20 But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him."
The message Habakkuk received had to be written down and relayed. God’s answer shows a
mixture of delay and urgency. On the one hand, it is made clear that the communication refers to future
events, and on the other hand the word must be passed on urgently and immediately. The Keil & Delitzsch
Commentary comments on this: “The words simply express the thought, that the prophecy is to be laid to
heart by all the people on account of its great importance, and that not merely in the present, but in the future
also. This no doubt involved the obligation on the part of the prophet to take care, by committing it to
writing, that it did not fall into oblivion. The reason for the writing is given in v. 3. The prophecy is …, for
the appointed time; i.e., it relates to the period fixed by God for its realization, which was then still … far
off.” Daniel was given a similar charge to write down his prophecy that pertained to future times and to keep
it sealed. We read that the angel tells him: “But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until
34
the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.” John similarly had to keep his
prophecy under seal. We read in Revelation: “And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I
35
heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.’ ”
It may be difficult to understand that God’s message can be both pressing and yet that it pertains to
a time that is still beyond the horizon. This seems to be the essence of the Lord’s return; it is imminent and
remote at the same time. Jesus expresses the tension in His advice to the disciples: “Therefore keep watch,
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because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” The key to the understanding of the paradox
is in the word “watch.”
“Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” The word “linger” seems to
be incompatible with “not delay.” The KJV reads: “Though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it
will not tarry,” using the same word for two different Hebrew words. The first is mahahh, which means “to
question or hesitate,” or “to be reluctant,” and the second is ‘achar, meaning, “to procrastinate.” The two
words explain what we could call “the Lord’s predicament.” God is reluctant because of what the Day of
34
Dan. 12:4
35
Rev. 10:4
36
Matt. 24:42

11
Judgment will bring, but He does not procrastinate. The apostle Peter explains “God’s predicament” by
referring to God’s love and compassion in this respect. We read: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his
promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to
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come to repentance.”
It seems that the answer God gives goes well beyond the period in world history that caused
Habakkuk to be so concerned. The king of Babylon becomes a type of the Antichrist who will appear at the
end of world history, who in turn is representative of the archenemy, Satan himself. The words: “See, he is
puffed up; his desires are not upright,” have a wide application. They obviously do not refer to the righteous
who is mentioned in the same breath. The first and foremost application is to Habakkuk’s countrymen, the
wicked who hemmed in the righteous, who paralyzed the law, and perverted justice. They are the ones who
indulged in drunkenness. We do not read anywhere that King Nebuchadnezzar was an alcoholic.
In that context also the words “but the righteous will live by his faith” should be read. Because of
Paul’s quotation of that verse, we tend to put it in quite a different framework. It is good, however, to first
look at the words against the background the prophet places them.
The Pulpit Commentary observes: “The ‘faith’ here spoken of is a loving trust in God, confidence
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in his promises, resulting in due performance of his will. This hemistich is the antithesis to the former. The
proud and perverse, those who wish to be independent of God, shall perish; but, on the other hand, the
righteous shall live and be saved through his faith, on the condition that he puts his trust in God. The Hebrew
accents forbid the union, ‘the just by faith,’ though, of course, no one can be just, righteous, without faith.
The passage may be emphasized by rendering, ‘As to the just, through his faith he shall live.’ This famous
sentence, which St. Paul has used as the basis of his great argument (Rom. i 17; Gal. iii. 11; comp. Heb. x.
38), in its literal and contextual application implies that the righteous man will have perfect trust in God’s
promises, and will be rewarded by being safe in the day of tribulation, with reference to the Chaldeans. When
the proud, greedy kingdom shall have sunk in ruin, the faithful people shall live secure. But the application is
not confined to this circumstance. The promise looks beyond the temporal future of the Chaldeans and
Israelites, and unto a reward that is eternal. We see how naturally the principle here enunciated is applied by
the apostle to teach the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ. The LXX gives, … ‘by faith in me.’ The
Speaker is God. St. Paul omits [me]. Habakkuk gathers into one sentence the whole principle of the Law, and
indeed all true religion.”
The Adam Clarke’s Commentary correctly draws the primary application to refer to the faith of the
righteous during the siege of Jerusalem, both by Nebuchadnezzar and by Titus. We read: “He that presumes
on his safety without any special warrant from God, is a proud man; and whatever he may profess, or think
of himself, his mind is not upright in him. But he that is just by faith shall live-he that believes what God
hath said relative to the Chaldeans besieging Jerusalem, shall make his escape from the place, and
consequently shall save his life. The words in the New Testament are accommodated to the salvation which
believers in Christ shall possess. Indeed, the just-the true Christians, who believed in Jesus Christ’s words
relative to the destruction of Jerusalem, when they found the Romans coming against it, left the city, and
escaped to Pella in Caelesyria, and did live-their lives were saved: while the unbelieving Jews, to a man,
either perished or were made slaves. One good sense is, He that believes the promises of God, and has found
life through believing, shall live by his faith.” Isaiah prophesies about the result of faith of those who put
their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ in the words: “So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘See, I lay a
stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be
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dismayed.’ ”
TLB paraphrases vs. 4 in such a way that the Babylonians are drawn in the picture: “Note this:
Wicked men trust themselves alone [as these Chaldeans do], and fail; but the righteous man trusts in me and
lives!” I take the one who is “puffed up” to refer primarily to the ungodly inhabitant of Jerusalem. It is faith
in God that helps the righteous to live through the dark night of pain and suffering.
With the words: “the righteous will live by his faith” God promises to see us through if we trust
Him. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews defines faith as follows: “Now faith is being sure of what we
37
II Peter 3:9
38
This word does not appear in the Webster dictionary. It means “alexandrine.”
39
Isa. 28:16

12
40
hope for and certain of what we do not see.” We sometimes speak about faith as if it is a means in itself.
Faith without an object is as useless as a rope thrown to a drowning man without anyone holding the other
end. Faith that is not faith in God is worthless. It is not faith that saves; it is God. If God is not the object of
our faith, our faith is an illusion.
Barnes’ Notes writes about the words “The just shall live by faith”: “The Septuagint translate the
passage in Habakkuk, ‘If any man shall draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him, but the just by my
faith,’ or by faith in me, ‘shall live.’ The very words are used by them which are employed by the apostle,
except they add the word ‘my, … MY faith. The Syriac renders it in a similar manner, ‘The just by faith shall
live.’ The meaning of the Hebrew in Habakkuk is the same. It does not refer originally to the doctrine of
justification by faith; but its meaning is this, ‘The just man, or the righteous man, shall live by his confidence
in God.’ The prophet is speaking of the woes attending the Babylonish captivity. The Chaldeans were to
come upon the land and destroy it, and remove the nation, [Hab.] 1:6-10. But this was not to be perpetual. It
should have an end ([Hab.] 2:3), and they who had confidence in God should live ([Hab.] 1:4); that is,
should be restored to their country, should be blessed and made happy. Their confidence in God should
sustain them, and preserve them. This did not refer primarily to the doctrine of justification by faith, nor did
the apostle so quote it, but it expressed a general principle that those who had confidence in God should be
happy, and be preserved and blessed. This would express the doctrine which Paul was defending. It was not
by relying on his own merit that the Israelite would be delivered, but it was by confidence in God, by his
strength and mercy. On the same principle would men be saved under the gospel. It was not by reliance on
their own works or merit; it was by confidence in God, by faith, that they were to live.”
We cannot continue our journey through Habakkuk without pausing to see how the apostle Paul
uses Habakkuk’s words and puts them in a broader context. Paul quotes Habakkuk twice, once in Romans
and once in Galatians. The author of The Epistle to the Hebrews quotes the same words once. In Romans we
read: “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to
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last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’ ” Paul’s primary intention was to contrast
“faith” with the attitude of those who believed that they could pay for their salvation by adhering strictly to
the stipulations of the ceremonial law. This is even more clearly expressed in the quotation in Galatians:
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“Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, ‘The righteous will live by faith.’ ” In
Hebrews, the quote is closer to the context in which we find it in Habakkuk. The author addresses Jews who
were persecuted because of their faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Some had buckled under the pressure
and had returned to Judaism. To those who were persecuted he wrote: “So do not throw away your
confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God,
you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will
not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.’
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But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.”
The Adam Clarke’s Commentary devotes a rather lengthy paragraph to the meaning of the word
“righteous” in Hebrew and in Greek. We read: “There are few words in the sacred writings which are taken
in a greater variety of acceptations than the word ts¦daqah … in Hebrew, and dikaiosunee … in Greek, both
of which we generally translate righteousness. Our English word was originally ‘rightwiseness’, from the
Anglo-Saxon word for ‘justice, right’, and the Anglo-Saxon word for ‘to know’; and thus the righteous man
was a person who was allowed to understand the claims of justice and right, and who, knowing them, acted
according to their dictates. Such a man is thoroughly wise; he aims at the attainment of the best end by the
use of the best means. This is a true definition of wisdom and the righteous man is he that knows most and
acts best. The Hebrew tsaadaq …, in its ideal meaning, contains the notion of a beam or scales in equipoise,
what we call even balance; and it is well known that in all the personifications of justice, both ancient and
modern, she is represented as a beautiful female with a blindfold over her eyes, and a beam and scales in her
hand, so perfectly poised that neither end preponderates. The Greek word dikaiosunee … has been derived
from dichazoo…, to divide; and hence, dikee…, justice, because it is the property of this virtue to divide to
40
Heb. 11:1
41
Rom. 1:17
42
Gal. 3:11
43
Heb. 10:35-39

13
each his due. With other etymologies it is useless to trouble the reader. Both the noun dikaiosunee … and
the verb dikaiooo … have a great variety of meaning in the New Testament; but they are all reducible to this
original idea, acting according to the requisitions of justice or right.” At this point, Clarke enters into a
series of examples in which we will not enter.
In Habakkuk’s text, the righteous is obviously the person who acknowledges God and whose life is
in accordance with the will of God. The fact that this person must live by faith suggest that circumstances are
such that the natural tendency is to doubt that God is in control and that there is no light at the end of the
tunnel. Such was the condition under which Habakkuk wrote his prophecy. Israel’s moral condition seemed
to be beyond redemption and God’s remedy seemed worse than the ailment.
In vs. 5, the prophet diverts from the inhabitants of Jerusalem and focuses again on the enemy
whose coming he predicts. The NIV gives the reading: “Indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at
rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the
nations and takes captive all the peoples.” TLB paraphrases the verse: “What’s more, these arrogant
Chaldeans are betrayed by all their wine, for it is treacherous. In their greed they have collected many nations,
but like death and hell, they are never satisfied.” The Pulpit Commentary observes: “The intemperate habits
of the Babylonians are well attested (see Dan. v. 3,4…). They used both the fermented sap of the palm tree as
well as the juice of the grape, the latter chiefly imported from abroad. ‘The wealthy Babylonians were fond
of drinking to excess; their banquets were magnificent but generally ended in drunkenness’ (Rawlinson…)
Neither the Septuagint, nor the Syriac, nor the Coptic Version has any mention of wine in this passage. The
Septuagint gives … ‘the arrogant and the scorner.’ He is a proud man, neither keepeth at home; a haughty
man, he resteth not. His pride is always impelling him to new raids and conquests. This is quite the character
of the later Chaldeans, and is consistent with the latter part of the verse. The comparison, then, is this: As
wine raises the spirits and excites men to great efforts which in the end deceive them, so pride rouses these
men to go on their insatiate course of conquest, which shall one day prove their ruin. The verb translated
‘keepeth at home’ has the secondary sense of ‘being decorous.’ … [As] wine first exhilarates and then makes
a man contemptible, so pride, which begins by exalting a man, ends by bringing him to ignominy. Others take
the verb in the sense of ‘continueth not,’ explaining that the destruction of Babylon is here intimated.”
Habakkuk follows the lead of Isaiah in singing a song of ridicule and scorn about the king of
Babylon. Isaiah clearly sees in the king of Babylon the image of the ultimate adversary. Both prophets look
beyond the events of their day or of the immediate future to the end of times when the powers that be will be
powers that were. In Isaiah we read: “Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: ‘Is this the man
who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the man who made the world a desert, who overthrew its
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cities and would not let his captives go home?’ ”
The song is the subject of the verses 6-20, in which the word “woe” occurs 5 times. The Jamieson,
Fausset, and Brown Commentary observes: “It is a symmetrical whole, and consists of five stanzas, the
three first consisting of three verses each, the fourth of four verses, and the last of two. Each stanza has its
own subject, and all except the last begin with ‘Woe;’ and all have a closing verse introduced with ‘for,’
‘because,’ or ‘but.’ ”
It is the general consensus of Bible commentators that the poem of these verses deals with the sins
of Babylon. It is true, however, that parts of it may have a more general application. The extortion by the
wealthy, for instance, could easily apply to the inhabitants of Jerusalem also. Since Babylon is depicted in the
Bible as the ultimate icon of sin and rebellion against God, everything that is said in these verses may be
given a wider application.
There exists a tendency to consider plunder in times of war to be less dishonorable than mere theft
in times of peace. Some of this can be dated to the times of Israel’s conquest of Canaan, when God used His
chosen people as an instrument of His wrath for the inhabitants of Canaan. David carried over this principle
in his campaigns against the Philistines, which he considered to be an extension of the legitimate mandate
given to Israel to clear the Promised Land from its sinful original population. We read in the records of I
Samuel, for instance: “When David arrived in Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who
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were his friends, saying, ‘Here is a present for you from the plunder of the LORD’s enemies.’ ” Habakkuk
puts the record straight by intimating that the mighty army of King Nebuchadnezzar was nothing but a pack
of vulgar thieves. We read about this king: “He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God,
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Isa. 14:16,17
45
I Sam. l 30:26

14
both large and small, and the treasures of the LORD’s temple and the treasures of the king and his
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officials.” The fact that this was God’s punishment to the nation of Israel did not make Nebuchadnezzar’s
act legitimate. An example in recent history is the story of Nazi Germany, in which Adolph Hitler rebuilt the
economy of the country by confiscating Jewish assets and carrying of the treasures of the nations he
occupied.
About all those criminal acts committed throughout the whole of world history in this world’s
Babylon, the prophet pronounces his “woe!” The Hebrew word translated “woe” is howy, which is an
exclamation of pain. It is not so much a punitive word as an expression of compassion. That is not the way
we tend to interpret it in this context. Yet it expresses well the pain God feels in contemplating man’s
corruption. Habakkuk sees the conqueror, who requisitions for his own enrichment whatever pleases him, on
the Day of Judgment when the accounts will be settled and the people who were robbed will come to the
witness stand. He looks at the mighty man who victimized people and who has become the victim beyond all
hope and help.
This world has deviated tremendously from the role God intended man to have in ruling over
creation. When God created Adam and Eve, He said: “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and
subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on
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the ground.” It was never God’s intention that man would rule over man; the entrance of sin corrupted
man’s original mandate. Sin gave man power over his fellowmen. Lord Acton correctly stated: “Power tends
to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” Even Paul’s
statement about the divine mandate of governments must be placed in the light of this world’s sinful
condition. In a world without sinful human nature, governments would have no place. But Paul writes:
“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God
has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against
the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on
themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be
free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s
servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is
God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit
to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why
you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone
what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor,
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then honor.”
There is a place for capital punishment in God’s order of things. God said to Noah: “Whoever sheds
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the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” But,
although King Nebuchadnezzar was, in a sense, “God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on
the wrongdoer,” in the shedding of man’s blood, of which Habakkuk accuses him in this chapter, he had
gone way beyond the mandate God had given him. Nebuchadnezzar, obviously, never considered himself to
be God’s servant; he was nobody’s servant but his own. In God’s court, however, he would stand as a war
criminal who had committed crimes against humanity.
The second “woe” again has a wider application than to the Babylonian empire alone. The
inhabitants of Jerusalem fell under the category of those who “[built their] realm by unjust gain.” The great
prostitute Babylon, as we find her in Revelation, fits this description. “With her the kings of the earth
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committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.” The
image of the eagle’s nest also points to the power behind the Babylonian empire, as it does in Obadiah’s
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II Chron. 36:18
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Gen. 1:28
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Rom. 13:1-7
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Gen. 9:6
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Rev. 17:2

15
prophecy: “ ‘Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you
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down,’ declares the LORD.”
The magnificent city of Babylon, of which King Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed so proudly: “Is not this
the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my
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majesty?” would become a monumental witness against his majesty on the Day of Judgment. The Bible
sometimes speaks in an almost animistic manner about inert things that are witnesses of man’s sin. When
Cain killed his brother Abel, God said to him: “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out
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to me from the ground.” Jesus, on the other hand, sees in the stones potentials witnesses of His glory.
When the religious leaders of His day objected to the children singing in the temple, we read in Luke’s
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Gospel: “ ‘I tell you,’ he replied,’ if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’ ” Those without a voice can
be eloquent witnesses.
Mankind has exhausted itself in the building of monumental cities of which at present not even the
dust is preserved. The first example is the building of the tower of Babel, which came to nothing when God
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took away man’s ability to communicate intelligently with one another in the same language. I recently
read in The Diary of Joseph Goebels, Hitler’s minister of propaganda, how the building of his ministry was
reduced to rubble by a direct hit of an allied bomb. His Excellency bemoaned the destruction and vowed that
he would restore the building to its old glory after the war. He committed suicide, however, about six weeks
after he made that entry in his diary.
Habakkuk’s words remind us of the Psalm David wrote after his capture of Jerusalem: “Why do the
nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather
together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. ‘Let us break their chains,’ they say, ‘and throw off
their fetters.’ The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his
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anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, ‘I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.’ ”
Habakkuk contrasts the futility of human efforts in his reaching for glory with the coming of the
glory of the Lord. Vs. 14 unfolds the vision of the fulfillment of God’s plan: “For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” In the Genesis record of creation,
we read that the earth was covered with water and darkness before God let His light shine upon it. The
hypothesis, which is called “The Gap Theory,” suggests that the chaotic condition of the earth was the result
of the fall of Lucifer. If this is correct, the contrast is striking between the waters of chaos that covers the
earth and the waters of the knowledge of the glory of the LORD. Habakkuk’s words are found verbatim in
Isaiah’s prophecy about the Messianic Kingdom: “They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy
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mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” It is
impossible to determine which one of the two prophets wrote those words originally.
The Adam Clarke’s Commentary sees the possibility of a three-fold fulfillment of the prophecy,
obviously, discounting the doctrine of the millennial Messianic kingdom. We read: “This is a singular and
important verse. It may be first applied to Babylon. God’s power and providence shall be widely displayed in
the destruction of this city and empire, in the humiliation of Nebuchadnezzar, Dan 4:37, and in the captivity
and restoration of his people. See … Isa 11:9. Secondly. It may be applied to the glorious days of the
Messiah. The land of Judea should by his preaching, and that of his disciples, be filled with the knowledge of
God. God’s great design fully discovered, and the scheme of salvation amply explained. Thirdly. It may be
applied to the universal spread of the Gospel over the habitable globe; when the fullness of the Gentiles
should be brought in, and the Jews gathered in with that fullness. The earth cannot perish till every continent,
island, and inhabitant, is illuminated with the light of the Gospel.”
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Obadiah 4; See also Isa. 14:12-15
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Dan. 4:30
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Gen. 4:10
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Luke 19:40
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See Gen. 11:6-9
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Ps. 2:1-6
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Isa. 11:9

16
Barnes’ Notes quotes Jerome, saying: “When Babylon shall be overthrown, then shall the power of
the might of the Lord be known unto all. So shall the whole earth be filled with the glory of the Lord, as the
waters cover the bottom of the sea. This as to the letter. But it is plain, that the Devil also and antichrist, and
the perverse teaching of heretics, built a city in blood; i.e., their own Church, with the destruction of those
whom they deceive ... But when they fall in the fire (either this fire which is felt, or consumed in the fire of
the devil their prince, or burned up with the fire whereof the Lord says, ‘I came to send a fire upon the earth,’
and so brought back from their former course, and doing penitence), the whole earth shall be filled with the
glory of the Lord, when, at the preaching of the apostles, their ‘sound shall go out into all the world,’ as
waters covering the sea, i.e., all the saltiness and bitterness of the world which Satan had rained down and the
earth had drunk, the waters of the Lord shall cover, and cause the place of their ancient bitterness not to
appear.”
Habakkuk’s words appear to indicate, however, that God has the plan to restore this planet, and
with it probably the whole body of constellations, to the glory of its original creation and beyond. The Lord’s
glory is revealed in His judgment over Babylon, both as a historical city and an icon of rebellion throughout
the ages. But it seems that this prophecy has a more cosmic ring to it. As inhabitants of this earth we are
moving toward an age of exuberant joy when the world will be covered with the Lord’s glory, and we will
know it.
We can hardly overestimate the impact such words must have had on those who would be led away
in captivity. The Babylonian exile seemed to be the end of all glory, the death of religion, and the death of
God. It was this hope that made an inmate of a Nazi concentration camp, Corrie ten Boom, decide to preach
the Gospel in all the world upon her release. And the man who was instrumental in our going to the mission
field, Willem Könneman, knelt down on the deck of the ship that brought him to a Japanese prison camp
praying: “Lord, here am I, send me!” Such is the hope of glory that accompanies us in our darkest hours.
The fourth “woe” is found in verses 15-17. It paints an image of drunkenness and immorality that
has a wide application. The first one is obviously a literal one. People are seduced by wine to surrender
themselves to sexual immorality. Noah was the first human being to fall into this snare: the Genesis account
tells us that he overindulged in the wine his vineyard produced and lay naked in his tent. When his son, Ham,
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found him thus and mocked him, Noah cursed him and his lineage. This led to a polarization of the human
race that has never subsided. The apostle John saw the same drunkenness and immoral filth personified at the
end of world history in the woman who is called with the name “Babylon, the great, mother of prostitutes
and of the abominations of the earth.” John writes about her: “I saw that the woman was drunk with the
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blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.”
Habakkuk’s condemnation serves not only those who give themselves to alcohol and pornography
but also those who sell it to others. “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the
wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies.” Trade in pornography is probably one
of the most lucrative businesses in the world. The devil monopolizes it. He has managed to turn man’s
sexuality around and instead of allowing man to express a love relationship akin to the spiritual bond with
God, he made it one of the most explicit expressions of man’s depravity. Habakkuk predicts that the tables
will be turned on the Day of Judgment. Those who sell shame “will be filled with shame instead of glory.”
The use of the word “glory” is striking in this context. It refers to what God wants man to be. The
essence of sin is that it falls short of the glory of God. Paul’s definition of sin is: “All have sinned and fall
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short of the glory of God.” In the words: “be exposed!” the Hebrew contains a reference to
un-circumcision. The rendering of the KJV brings this out: “let thy foreskin be uncovered,” and the NKJV:
“And be exposed as uncircumcised!” The inference is not merely to the ritual but to the fact that the person
does not belong to the covenant with God. Paul contrasts glory with shame when he characterizes those who
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resist the Gospel as: “Their glory is in their shame.” God intended man’s sexuality to be his glory but sin
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Gen. 9:20-27
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See Rev. 17:5,6
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Rom. 3:23
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Phil. 3:19

17
corrupted this glory so that Adam and Eve felt ashamed when they stood before God because they were
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naked.
The cup in the Lord’s hand is contrasted with the wine that is served “straight from the bottle” in vs.
13. The Bible often uses the image of a cup of wine for the wrath of God. Asaph uses the figure in one of his
Psalms: “In the hand of the LORD is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all
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the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs.” And in Revelation, John describes the punishment
of Babylon, the icon of sin in the world, with the words: “Give back to her as she has given; pay her back
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double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup.” This is also, probably the
sense in which Jesus used the expression when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane: “My Father, if it is
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possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Vs. 17 poses, evidently, some problems of translation. The Hebrew reads literally: “For the
violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid…” The TLB renders
this: “You cut down the forests of Lebanon-now you will be cut down! You terrified the wild animals you
caught in your traps-now terror will strike you because of all your murdering and violence in cities
everywhere.” Barnes’ Notes explains: “Having become beasts, they shared their history. They spoiled, scared,
laid waste, were destroyed. ‘Whoso seeketh to hurt another, hurteth himself.’ The Chaldaeans laid waste
Judea, scared and wasted its inhabitants; the end of its plunder should be, not to adorn, but to cover them,
overwhelm them as in ruins, so that they should not lift up their heads again. Violence returns upon the head
of him who did it; they seem to raise a lofty fabric, but are buried under it. He sums up their past experience,
what God had warned them beforehand, what they had found.” The cedars of Lebanon are often used as a
metaphor, as in Isaiah’s dirge over the “king of Babylon,” who is Satan himself in the context of that
prophecy. We read there: “Even the pine trees and the cedars of Lebanon exult over you and say, ‘Now that
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you have been laid low, no woodsman comes to cut us down.’ ”
The Keil & Delitzsch Commentary observes: “Lebanon with its beasts is taken by most
commentators allegorically, as a figurative representation of the holy land and its inhabitants. But although it
may be pleaded, in support of this view, that Lebanon, and indeed the summit of its cedar forest, is used in
Jer 22:6 as a symbol of the royal family of Judaea, and in Jer 22:23 as a figure denoting Jerusalem…[This]
view does not answer to the train of thought in the whole of the ode, since the previous strophes do not
contain any special allusion to the devastation of the holy land, or the subjugation and ill-treatment of the
holy people, but simply to the plundering of many nations, and the gain forced out of their sweat and blood,
as being the great crime of the Chaldaean (cf. vv. 8, 10, 13), for which he would be visited with retribution
and destruction. Consequently we must take the words literally, as referring to the wickedness practiced by
the Chaldaean upon nature and the animal world, as the glorious creation of God, represented by the cedars
and cypresses of Lebanon, and the animals living in the forests upon those mountains.”
A glance at the recent history of the world reveals scenes of violence similar in nature to the one
Habakkuk refers to but carried out on a much larger scale. The twentieth century will go down in history as
the century of two world wars in which millions were uprooted and killed. What Nebuchadnezzar did to the
Middle East was child’s play in comparison with crimes of the Bolshevists, the Nazis, and the Japanese, who
raped this planet and tore it apart. The present picture the world presents is probably close to the one in the
days of Noah of which we read: “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and
that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he
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had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.”
Verses 18-20 contain the last of the last of the five “woes,” although the poem does not commence
with that word as the other four. We find it in vs. 19: “Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to
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Gen. 3:10
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Ps. 75:8
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Rev. 18:6
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Matt. 26:39
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Isa. 14:8
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Gen. 6:5,6

18
lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ ” The subject is the idolatry upon which the power of the Babylonian empire was
founded. The prophet penetrates to the core of the matter in this stanza, which is the spiritual vacuum upon
which the power of Babylon was built. Or rather upon the evil powers that filled that vacuum, although this
is not specifically mentioned. The emphasis in these verses is upon man’s foolishness in deviating from
common sense in substituting his relationship with the living God who is above him, with something that is
beneath him. The Hebrew uses two words to describe the idol statues: pecel, which means a carved image,
made of wood, and maccekah, which is a cast image. There is also a relationship in Hebrew between the
nouns and the verbs used. Barnes’ Notes explains that the word yotser is the same as yitsrow, the “fashioner
of his fashion.” And again ‘dumb idols’ are ‘eliyliym and illemiym, the second word only slightly varying
from the first). He uses the very words which express the relation of man to God, ‘the Framer’ and ‘the thing
framed.’ ”
The Old Testament makes very little mention of the relationship between worship of idol statues
and the occult. The apostle Paul hints to this relationship when he writes to the Corinthians: “We know that
an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods,
whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’) yet for us there is but one
God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ,
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through whom all things came and through whom we live.” Paul uses a play-on-words in Greek. The word
Elohiym is commonly used as the name for God. The word used for the idols is ‘eliyliym, which means
“nothings.” There is no scientific proof that meddling with idol statues leads to occult involvement, but in
practice, people who occupy themselves with wood or metal as object of worship, can enter into a domain of
spiritual powers in which they become like sheep among the wolves. The Old Testament, however, does not
stress this point so much as the stupidity of an intelligent human being who surrenders himself to something
that is many stages below him on the echelon of creation.
Habakkuk’s words have the same ring as those of Isaiah, who reserved some of his strongest ire for
the makers of idols. We read there: “All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are
worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame. Who shapes
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a god and casts an idol, which can profit him nothing? ” And: “Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it
he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, ‘Ah! I am warm; I
see the fire.’ From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and
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says, ‘Save me; you are my god.’ ”
Habakkuk personalizes the idol by calling it “an image that teaches lies.” The Keil & Delitzsch
Commentary understands this to mean: “The idol is a teacher of lying, inasmuch as it sustains the delusion,
partly by itself and partly through its priests, that it is God, and can do what men expect from God; whereas it
is nothing more than a dumb nonentity.” Ultimately, it is man who lies to himself. When we create our own
gods, we do this in the belief that we can manipulate them. Our recognition of an idol’s divine nature is a
means to keep our finger in the pie. In as much as all lies originate with the Father of Lies, we become his
victims. It is he who does the manipulation.
God pronounces His “woe” on those who exchange Him, the ultimate truth, with a lie. Sin entered
this world through the lie. See in what a woeful condition this has brought us.
Jeremiah spells out most clearly what this exchange means. He says: “They have forsaken me, the
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spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” And: “O
LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be
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written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water.”
In the last verse of this chapter, Habakkuk not only contrasts the idols with the Lord but also silence
with silence. In idolatry, the idols are silent and man speaks; in true worship man is silent and God speaks.
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I Cor. 8:4-6
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Isa. 44:9,10
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Isa. 44:16,17
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Jer. 2:13
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Jer. 17:13

19
The Matthew Henry’s Commentary comments beautifully on this verse: “Now see here …How the
people of God triumph in him, and therewith support themselves, when the idolaters thus shame themselves
(v. 20): But the Lord is in his holy temple.
(1.) Our rock is not as their rock, Deut 32:31. Theirs are dumb idols; ours is Jehovah, a living God,
who is what he is, and not, as theirs, what men please to make him. He is in his holy temple in heaven, the
residence of his glory, where we have access to him in the way, not which we have invented, but which he
himself has instituted. Compare Ps 115:3, But our God is in the heavens, and Ps 11:4.
(2.) The multitude of their gods which they set up, and take so much pains to support, cannot thrust
out our God; he is, and will be, in his holy temple still, and glorious in holiness. They have laid waste his
temple at Jerusalem; but he has a temple above that is out of the reach of their rage and malice, but within
the reach of his people’s faith and prayers.
(3.) Our God will make all the world silent before him, will strike the idolaters as dumb as their
idols, convincing them of their folly, and covering them with shame. He will silence the fury of the
oppressors, and check their rage against his people.
(4.) It is the duty of his people to attend him with silent adoring (Ps 65:1), and patiently to wait for
his appearing to save them in his own way and time. Be still, and know that he is God, Zech 2:13.”
The words are given for the benefit of both the people of Israel, who had exchanged God for their
idols, as for King Nebuchadnezzar who would come to the recognition that “no other god can save in this
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way.” He gave this testimony: “It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that
the Most High God has performed for me. How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is
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an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.”
When Habakkuk spoke these words, the temple in Jerusalem still stood. Even though the words
ultimately refer to the throne in heaven and “the one who [sits] there [who has] the appearance of jasper and
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carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, [encircling] the throne,” the day would come when King
Nebuchadnezzar would destroy the building in Jerusalem. That day would go down in history as one of the
darkest. It foreshadows the day when the real temple of the Lord, the body of our Lord Jesus Christ was
destroyed at the cross. All this did not change the fact that the Lord God is in His holy temple, sitting on the
throne of the universe. The real temple was restored to its full glory in three days, according to Jesus’ words:
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“Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
Habakkuk’s recognition of God’s glory forms the bridge between the first two chapters and the last
one of his book. One of the darkest pages in Jewish history was about to be turned, but the last chapter of the
book reveals the full glory of God, greater and deeper than the oceans of this world we live on. We will live
to see it. In John’s words: “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives
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forever.”
II. The Praise of Habakkuk 3

A. Habakkuk Prays for God’s Mercy 3:1-2
1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.

2 LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in
our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.
Habakkuk’s prayer is one of most moving and beautiful poems in world literature. Scholars have
debated the meaning of the word shigionoth almost ever since it was first written down. The people of
Habakkuk’s day understood, of course, clearly what it meant. After the Babylonian Captivity had ended and
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Dan. 3:29
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Dan. 4:2,3
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Rev. 4:3
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John 2:19
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I John 2:17

20
Aramaic had replaced the Hebrew language in everyday life, some Hebrew words lost their obvious meaning.
Strong’s Concordance indicates that Shiggayown or Shiggayonah is derived from shagah, which
has wide variety of meaning, such as: “to stray,” “to mistake, or transgress,” but also with the idea of
intoxication: “to reel,” or “to be enraptured.” The Dictionary suggests the meaning “a dithyramb or rambling
poem.” The text of this beautiful poem hardly gives any ground for such a title. The Jamieson, Fausset, and
Brown Commentary understands shigionoth to be “a musical phrase, ‘after the manner of elegies,’ or
mournful odes.” The Commentary states: “Habakkuk thus teaches his countrymen to confess not only their
more grievous sins, but also their errors and negligences, into which they were especially likely to fall when
in exile away from the Holy Land (Calvin). So the Vulgate, and Aquila and Symmachus. ‘For voluntary
transgressors’ (Jerome). Probably the subject would regulate the kind of music, so that the style of music,
like its subject, would be erratic. Delitsch and Henderson translate ‘With triumphal music,’ from the same
root, to err, implying its enthusiastic irregularity.”
The key thought of Habakkuk’0s psalm is stated in the words: “In wrath remember mercy.” The
prophet begins by reaching back into Israel’s history. He expresses the same thought as Gideon, who said to
the angel of the LORD: “If the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders
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that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ ” Like
Gideon, the prophet wants to see the same demonstration of power as when God brought Israel out of Egypt
and led them into the Promised Land.
The Hebrew text reads literally: “I have heard thy speech, O LORD, and was afraid.” The KJV
renders the verse as such. TLB reads: “O Lord, now I have heard your report, and I worship you in awe for
the fearful things you are going to do.” As the NIV, TLB considers the Hebrew word shema` to mean
something spoken about God, not necessarily God’s own spoken Word.
It is imperative that every generation learns to understand God’s revelation. This does not
necessarily mean that the facts of salvation are repeated over and over again.0 Israel was led out of Egypt and
brought into Canaan only once. But the children of the people who did not experience God’s “fearful things”
in their own lives, must understand that the same God who did this for their fathers is present in their
generation. The resurrection of Jesus Christ occurred only once in history, but the power of His resurrection
ought to work in the lives of all who live in this present age.
B. Habakkuk Remembers God’s Mercy 3:3-15

3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah
His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth.
4 His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden.
5 Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps.
6 He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains
crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish.
8 Were you angry with the rivers, O LORD? Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against
the sea when you rode with your horses and your victorious chariots?
9 You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows. Selah You split the earth with rivers;
10 the mountains saw you and writhed. Torrents of water swept by; the deep roared and lifted its waves
on high.
11 Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your
flashing spear.
12 In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations.
13 You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of
wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot. Selah
14 With his own spear you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as
though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding.
15 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters.
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Judg. 6:13

21
For Habakkuk, the history of salvation would play itself in reverse. Israel was about evicted from
the Promised Land. That fact makes his psalm so heartrending and significant. When God told Habakkuk:
“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. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous
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people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own,” he must have made the
connection with Moses’ prophecy to Israel, warning them what would happen if they would leave the Lord:
“The LORD will drive you and the king0 you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There
you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of horror and an object0 of
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scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.”
The wrath of God was coming unavoidably but 0Habakkuk’s prayer stands as a vigil in the gap
assuring that punishment will not cause annihilation but rejuvenation. The expression “remember mercy”
originates with David, who wrote in one of his psalms: “Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,
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for they are from of old.” In periods of utter darkness, the prayer of one man can make all the
difference in the world. Jesus’ prayer for Peter saved him from the total despair his denial could have
caused. Jesus told him: “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you,
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Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” That
was the reason why Peter repented in bitter tears and the Lord could restore him.
The Keil & Delitzsch Commentary introduces Habakkuk’s psalm with the following comments:
“The description of this theophany rests throughout upon earlier lyrical descriptions of the revelations of
God in the earlier times of Israel. Even the introduction (v. 3) has its roots in the song of Moses in Deut
33:2; and in the further course of the ode we meet with various echoes of different psalms (compare v. 6
with Ps 18:8; v. 8 with Ps 18:10; v. 19 with Ps 18:33-34; also v. 5 with Ps 68:25; v. 8 with Ps 68:5,34).
The points of contact in vv. 10-15 with Ps. 77:17-21, are still more marked, and are of such a kind that
Habakkuk evidently had the psalm in his mind, and not the writer of the psalm the hymn of the prophet, and
that the prophet has reproduced in an original manner such features of the psalm as were adapted to his
purpose. This is not only generally favored by the fact that Habakkuk’s prayer is composed throughout after
the poetry of the Psalms, but still more decidedly by the circumstance that Habakkuk depicts a coming
redemption under figures borrowed from that of the past, to which the singer of this psalm looks back from
his own mournful times, comforting himself with the picture of the miraculous deliverance of his people
out of Egypt. … For it is very evident that Habakkuk does not describe the mighty acts of the Lord in the
olden time, in order to assign a motive for his prayer for the deliverance of Israel out of the affliction of
exile which awaits it in the future, as many of the earlier commentators supposed, but that he is predicting a
future appearance of the Lord to judge the nations, from the simple fact that he places the future yaabow’
(came) (v. 3) at the head of the whole description, so as to determine all that follows; whilst it is placed
beyond the reach of doubt by the impossibility of interpreting the theophany historically, i.e., as relating to an
earlier manifestation of God. This he sees in the form of a theophany, which is fulfilled before his mental
eye; hence yaabow’0 does not describe what is future, as being absolutely so, but is something progressively
unfolding itself from the present onwards, which we should express by the present tense.”
Barnes’ Notes observes about Habakkuk’s prayer: “God had already promised by Micah (Mic
7:15), ‘According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt, I will show him marvelous things.’
Isaiah had often used the great0 events of that deliverance as the symbols of the future. So now Habakkuk, in
one vast panorama, as it were, without distinction of time or series of events, exhibits the future in pictures
of the past. In the description itself which follows, he now speaks in the past, now in the future; of which
times the future might be a vivid present; and the past a prophetic past. As a key to the whole, he says, ‘God
shall come,’ indicating that all which follows, however spoken, was a part of that future. In no other way0
was it an answer to that prayer, ‘Revive Thy work.’ To foretell future deliverances in plain words, had been a
comfort; it would have promised a continuance of that work. The unity and revival of the work is expressed,
in that the past is made, as it was, the image of the future. That future was to be wondrous, superhuman;
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0ch. 1:5,6
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Deut. 28:36,37
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Ps. 25:6
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Luke 22:31,32

22
elsewhere the past miracles 0had been no image of it. It was to be no mere repetition of the future; and to
mark this, the images are exhibited out of their historical order.”
Reaching back in history to the conquest of Canaan, the prophet sees the picture replayed before his
eyes.
The Adam Clarke’s Commentary comments on the words: “God came from Teman:” “Dr. Lowth
observes: ‘This is a sudden burst of poetry, in the true spirit of the ode; the concealed connection being that
God, who had formerly displayed such power in delivering the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, might succor
their posterity in a like wonderful manner.’ Hence, the prophet selects the most striking facts of that first
deliverance; and to decorate and render them impressive, brings forth all the powers of his genius, in all the
strength and elegance of his language. ‘What crowns the sublimity of this piece,’ says Dr. Lowth, ‘is the
singular elegance of the close; and were it not that antiquity has here and there thrown its veil of obscurity
over it, there could not be conceived a more perfect and masterly poem of its kind.’ … I shall endeavor to
show the facts in the deliverance from Egypt, to which the prophet refers. [Teman] This was a city, the
capital of a province of Idumea, to the south of the land of Canaan. Num 20:21; Jer 49:7. [Paran] Was a city
which gave its name to0 a province in Arabia Petraea. Gen 21:21; Deut 33:2. [Selah] This word is not well
known; probably it means a pause or alteration in the music. See it0 in the Psalms, and its explanation there.
[His glory covered the 0heavens] His glory when he 0descended on Mount Sinai, and in the pillar of fire by
night. [The earth was full of his praise.] All the land was astonished at the magnificence of his works in
behalf of his people. Instead of praise, some translate splendor. The whole land was illuminated by his
glory.”
The best thing we can ever do is to remember the facts of salvation, as Habakkuk did. The
difference for us is that we have so much more to fall back on than the history of a people who were brought
out from slavery into freedom. In the words of the apostle Paul: “What, then, shall we say in response to
this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us
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all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” The God who leads us through the
dark tunnels, the valley of the shadow of death, is the God “who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up
for us all.” The facts of salvation are proof of the character of God.
In rehearsing the facts of salvation, the conquest of Canaan, Habakkuk sings: “His glory covered the
heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where
his power was hidden.” As the prophet sees the Babylonian army marching toward Jerusalem and knowing
that they will destroy the city, he sings: “My eyes have seen the coming of the0 glory of the Lord.” The eye of
faith sees the Invisible. That is the testimony the writer of Hebrews gives about Moses: “He persevered
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because he saw him0 who is invisible.”
In connection with the conquest of Canaan, God had foretold Moses: “I will send my terror ahead
of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs
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and run.” And, in the Psalms, David describes God’s victory over His enemies: “May God arise, may
his enemies be scattered; may his foes flee before him. As smoke is blown away by the wind, may you
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blow them away; as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God.”
The NIV reads vs. 3 – “God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran.” Some versions
render the verb in the present or even in the future tense. As we have seen from earlier quotations, the
Hebrew expresses a variety of tenses which indicate the different dimensions of this prophecy.
Most commentators agree that Habakkuk’s prayer borrows images from Moses’ song in
Deuteronomy. “God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran,” obviously, owes it inspiration
from Moses’ words: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned over them from Seir; he shone forth from
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Mount Paran. He came with myriads of holy ones from the south, from his mountain slopes.”
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Rom. 8:31,32
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Heb. 11:27
85
Ex. 23:27
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Ps. 68:1,2
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Deut. 33:2

23
The Keil & Delitzsch Commentary states: “The two localities lie opposite to one another, and are
only separated by the Arabah (or deep valley of the Ghor). We are not to understand the naming0 of these
two, however, as suggesting the idea that God was coming from the Arabah, but, according to the original
passage in Deut 33:2, as indicating that the splendor of the divine appearance spread over Teman and the
mountains of Paran, so that the rays were reflected from the two mountainous regions. The word Selâh does
not form part of the subject-matter of the text, but shows 0that the music strikes in here when the song is
used in the temple, taking up the lofty thought that God is coming, and carrying0 it out in a manner befitting
the majestic appearance, in the prospect of the speedy help of the Lord.”
The words of Habakkuk make us look up to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in glory. The
apostle Paul writes about 0this: “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give
relief to0 you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from
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heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.”
Habakkuk’s mention of the tents of Cushan has caused confusion and disagreement among the
scholars. Some think Ethiopia is meant, others that it is “a part of the territory over which the Midianites
roamed, and that it was from here that Zipporah, Moses’ wife, who is called a Cushite, came” (The Wycliffe
Bible Commentary). The Book of Judges mentions Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim. We read:
“The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim
king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. The Spirit of the LORD came
upon him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The LORD gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of
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Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.” The Keil & Delitzsch Commentary, however,
states: “By Cushan we are not to understand the Mesopotamian king named Cushan Rishathaim, who
subjugated Israel for eight years after the death of Joshua (Judg 3:8ff.); for this neither agrees with
‘aahaaleey … nor with the introduction of Midian in the parallel clause. The word is a lengthened form
for Such, and the name of the African Ethiopians. The Midianites are mentioned along with them, as
being inhabitants of the Arabian coast of the Red Sea, which was opposite to them …, ‘aahaaleey …,
the tents with their inhabitants, the latter being principally intended. The same remark applies to
y¦riy`owt …, lit., the tent-curtains of the land of Midian, i.e., of the tents pitched in the land of Midian.”
Barnes’ Notes observes: “Cushan is one of the names of Midian or one of its tribes, and it is also
called Cush.”
Habakkuk’s remarks about the rivers, the streams, and the sea are not without a touch of humor.
The psalmist assumes the same mocking tone when he addresses the Red Sea and the0 Jordan River: “The
sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back; the mountains skipped like rams,0 the hills like lambs. Why was
it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back, you mountains, that you skipped like rams, you hills,
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like lambs?” 0 Obviously, the wrath of the Lord was not directed against the water but against the enemy of
His people. God used the sea and the river, first to give free passage to Israel on their way to freedom and
dignity, and then against the enemy who sought to kill God’s chosen ones. It is interesting to see how
Habakkuk uses particularly those incidents of deliverance at the moment that Nebuchadnezzar advances for
the purpose of vanquishing Israel. Barnes’ Notes quotes Jerome who commented on this passage: “As Thou
didst dry up the Jordan and the Red Sea, fighting for us; for Thou wert not wroth with the rivers or the sea,
nor could things without sense offend Thee; so now mounting Thy chariots, and taking Thy bow, Thou wilt
give salvation to Thy people; and the oaths which Thou swearest to our fathers and the tribes, Thou wilt
fulfill forever.”
Vs. 9 again has sent the scholars scurrying0 for explanations. The Hebrew text reads literally: “Thy
bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah.” The Wycliffe Bible
Commentary observes: “Of all the clauses in the entire prophecy, this is probably the most difficult to
explain. As it stands, it must be an interpolation, meaning that Judah’s only hope is in God’s covenant
promise, particularly of the Sinaitic or Mosaic Covenant. In one small group of ancient manuscripts this
phrase reads, ‘thou dost fill thy quiver with shafts,’ which makes good sense but does not have support in the
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II Thess 1:6,7
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Judg. 3:8,10
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Ps. 114:3-6

24
best Hebrew manuscripts.” The NKJV renders this: “Your bow was made quite ready; Oaths were sworn
over Your arrows.” TLB cuts through the Gordian knot with: “All saw your power!”
The sentence “You split the earth with rivers” does not fare any better. It could be that the prophet
moves back and forth between a picture of God as Savior and God as Creator, but most commentators
believe that the words give a description of an earthquake caused by the coming of the Lord. Some go to
quite some length to spiritualize the text. The Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary quotes Grotius
who “refers it to the bringing forth of water from the0 rock (Ex 17:6, ‘the rock in Horeb,’ when the people
[chided] Moses because of their want of water at Rephidim; Num 20:10-11, at Meribah, when Moses ‘smote
the rock twice;’ Ps. 67:15-16; 105:41). But the context implies, not the giving of water to His people to
drink, but the fearful physical phenomena attending Yahweh’s attack on Israel’s foes.”
The language is highly poetical and it would be impossible to pinpoint any incident in the history of
Israel’s redemption, either during the desert journey or in the conquest of Canaan, that corresponds directly
to the picture drawn here of an earthquake that created new rivers or changed the flow of others. The
standing still of the sun and moon is, of course, adequately recording in Joshua when, during battle with the
five Amorite kings, Joshua commanded the sun to stand still. We read: “On the day the LORD gave the
Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: ‘O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O
moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.’ So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself
on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed
going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD
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listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!” The answer to Joshua’s prayer is on record as
one of the most amazing instances of answered prayer in Scripture. Habakkuk’s appeal0 to this incident,
therefore, gives added force to his confidence in God. The prophet’s prayer is addressed to God, the Savior,
who revealed Himself to Israel in such an astounding way. Habakkuk’s appeal to God in this manner is equal
to our calling upon our heavenly Father, who is the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead. The apostle
Paul expresses Habakkuk’s attitude toward God in New Testament terms: “And if the Spirit of him who
raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your
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mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”
In verses 12 and 13, the prophet switches from the plural to the singular, speaking about “your
anointed one,” and “the leader of the land of wickedness.” The Hebrew word, translated “anointed one0” is
mashiyach from which is derived: “the Messiah.” This indicates that behind every human war there is the
cosmic confrontation between God and Satan that is fought out in the heavenlies. Not only would Israel
eventually be delivered from the Babylonian Captivity, but Satan would ultimately be stripped and crushed,
as was done when Jesus, the Anointed One, died on the cross. The apostle Paul states: “Having disarmed the
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powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them0 by the cross.” When
Jesus was “stripped head to foot,” the shame of Satan was exposed in the nakedness of sin. This will
find its culmination on the day when “the devil, who deceived them, [is] thrown into the lake of burning
sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night
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for ever and ever.”
Verses 14 and 15 combine the victory over Sisera with the annihilation of Pharaoh’s army in the
Red Sea. We read 0Sisera’s story in the Book of Judges. When his army lost, we read: “Sisera, however, fled
on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there were friendly relations between Jabin
king of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, ‘Come, my
lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.’ So he entered her tent, and she put a covering over him. ‘I’m thirsty,’ he
said. ‘Please give me some water.’ She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up. ‘Stand
in the doorway of the tent,’ he told her. ‘If someone comes by and asks you, ‘ ‘Is anyone here?’ ‘ say ‘ ‘No.’ ‘
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Josh. 10:12-14
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Rom. 8:11
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Col. 2:15
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Rev. 20:10

25
But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep,
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exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.”
Pharaoh0’s fate is recorded in Exodus: “Then Moses stretched out his0 hand over the sea, and 0all
that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were
divided, and the0 Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on 0their right and on
their left. The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them
into the sea. During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at
the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they
had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, ‘Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for
them against Egypt.’ Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters
may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.’ Moses stretched out his hand over the
sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The0 Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD
swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen--the entire army of
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Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.”
History will repeat itself. At the end of time, the redeemed will again gather at the shore of a sea
and sing their hymn of triumph over the Antichrist and his master. We read John’s description of this event in
Revelation: “And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those
who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps
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given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb….”
C. Habakkuk Trusts in God’s Salvation 3:16-19
16 I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my
legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.
17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on
the heights.
For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.
In vs. 16, Habakkuk reaches the moment of crisis. There is the inward clash of the two opposites,
the facts of salvation, which indicate that God does save, and heal, and restore, and the vision of the
immediate future in which he sees the coming of the Babylonian army that will kill, destroy, and carry away
in captivity. He has seen both visions. On a smaller scale, we often receive the same conflicting signals. We
see instances of people being healed in answer to simple prayer and others, for whom hundreds of prayers
went up, succumb to their illness and die. Habakkuk reacts strongly to this kind of divine “inconsistency.”
He says: “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my
legs trembled.” It made him physically ill. We do not read how he came to terms with this but there must
have been an obvious act of surrender0 which resulted in “the peace of God, which transcends all
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understanding, [guarding his heart and his mind] in Christ Jesus.”
Habakkuk came to the same point in his life where Job had arrived in his testing. We read about
Job: “Then Job replied to the LORD: ‘I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.
[You asked,] ‘ ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ ’ Surely I spoke of things I did
not understand, things too wonderful for me to 0know. [‘You said,] ‘ ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will
question you, and you shall answer me.’ ’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.
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Judg. 4:17-21
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Ex.14:21-28
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Rev. 15:2,3
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Phil. 4:7

26
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Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.’ ” The peace of Christ Jesus descended upon
Habakkuk’s soul when he said to God: “I give up.”
God did not answer Habakkuk’s questions from the beginning of his book: “Why do you make me
look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong?” and: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot
tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up
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those more righteous than themselves?” There was no answer but the questions stopped. The mystery is
inexplicable, but that is the way the peace of Christ Jesus descends upon every human soul. It doesn’t mean
that God doesn0’t want us to ask questions; otherwise, Habakkuk’s inspired prophecy 0would not be found
in the Bible. It means that God gives us a sense of trust in Him when we recognize that He is greater than any
question we can ask.
Habakkuk’s crisis experience is more complicated than appears on the surface. It is also encased in
words that are difficult to interpret. Our first impression is that the prophet’s trembling pertains to the
coming of God’s judgment over Israel, but a closer look reveals that it refers to the fate that will come upon
Israel’s enemies. The0 Hebrew reads literally: “Trouble when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade
them with his troops.” The KJV stays closely to the original. The NIV reads: “Yet I will wait patiently for the
day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.” TLB paraphrases: “I will quietly wait for the day of
trouble to come upon the people who invade us.” The reaction Habakkuk feels in his body upon the
judgment over Babylon betrays feelings of compassion. Quite unlike Jonah’s reaction to the salvation of
Nineveh, God’s judgment upon Babylon awakens in Habakkuk a passion for souls. The Bible generally
speaks about the judgment over Babylon in terms of rejoicing. While “the merchants of the earth will weep
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and mourn,” the Holy Spirit encourages us: “Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and
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prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.” Habakkuk’s conflicting emotions, however,
are a very appropriate reaction to the lostness of man.
Verses 17 and 18 paint a picture of the Promised Land under the judgment of God. When God first
unfolded His plan of salvation to Moses, He said: “I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the
Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and
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honey--the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.” The land
Habakkuk depicts for us is a scorched earth in which nothing grows and where people starve to death. The
Adam Clarke's Commentary comments on this: “[Although the fig tree shall not blossom] Tipraach…
‘shall not 0flourish,’ shall not put forth its young figs, for the fig tree does not blossom. The young figs
appear as soon as the old ones are ripe, as I have often had occasion to observe. This verse most nervously
paints the desolate state of the land of Judea during the captivity. In its hemistich form, it may be translated
thus:
For the fig tree shall not flourish,
And there shall be no fruit on the vines;
The fruit of the olive shall fail,
And the fields shall supply no food:
The flocks shall be cut off from the fold,
And no herds shall be found in the stalls:
Yet in Yahweh will I exult;
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Vulgate has: Yet I in the Lord will rejoice, and will exult in Jesus my God. The Targum
countenances this version: … ‘But in the WORD of the Lord will I rejoice,0’ i.e., the personal, substantial
Word of Yahweh. These two verses give the finest display of resignation and confidence that I have ever met
with. He saw 0that evil was at hand, and 0unavoidable; he submitted to the dispensation of God, whose
Spirit enabled him to paint it in all its calamitous circumstances. He knew that God was merciful and
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Job 42:1-6
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ch. 1: 3,13
101
See Rev. 18:11
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Rev. 18:20
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Ex. 3:8

27
gracious. He trusted to his promise, though all appearances were against its fulfillment; for he knew that the
word of Yahweh could0 not fail, and therefore his confidence is unshaken. No paraphrase can add anything
to this hymn, which is full of inexpressible dignity and elegance, leaving even its unparalleled piety out of
0the question.”
The Promised Land Habakkuk describes is like a moonscape. It takes us back to the time before
God spoke: “Let there be light!” When “the earth was formless and empty, [and] darkness was over0 the
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surface of the deep,” before even “the Spirit of God was0 hovering over the waters.” This land is unfit
for human habitation. Habakkuk says that, even if things become as bad as they can ever be, he will
rejoice in the Lord.
Barnes’ Notes asks the question: “But whence the source of this measureless unutterable joy?”
And the reply is: “In the Lord, the Unchangeable God, ‘who is and was and is to come,’ I AM (it is the
incommunicable Name); in the God of my salvation: it is almost the Name of Jesus; (NOTE: Chaldee, The
Syriac: ‘God my Redeemer.’ Septuagint: ‘God my Savior.’) ‘in God the Author of my redemption,’ Jesus in
Hebrew Yeeshuwa0` …, here yesha` … for JESUS is salvation, and the Name means ‘the Lord is Salvation;’
whence the words are here rendered even by a Jew … ‘in God the Author of my redemption,’ and yet more
sweetly by a father, Augustine, …: ‘To me what some manuscripts have; ‘ ‘I will rejoice in God my Jesus,’
’0 seems better than what they have, who have not set the Name itself (but saving) which to us it is more
loving and sweeter to name.’) ‘in God my Jesus.’ In Him his joy begins, to Him and in Him it flows back and
on; before he ventures, amid all the desolation, to speak of joy, he names the Name of God, and, as it were,
stays himself in God, is enveloped and wrapped round in God; and I (the words stand in this order) ‘and I in
the Lord would shout for joy.’ He comes, as it 0were, and places himself quite close to God, so that nothing,
not even his joy should be between himself and God; ‘and I in the Lord.’ All creation, as it had failed, ceases
to be; all out of God: he speaks of nothing but himself and God, or rather himself in God; and as He, God,
comes before his joy, as its source, so in Him does he lose himself, with joy which cannot be contained, nor
expressed, nor rest, but utters itself in the glad motions of untiring love. ‘I would bound for joy in my Saving
God.’ Truly all our joy is, to be in Him in whom is all Good, who is all Goodness and all Love.”
We cannot go beyond this profound expression of faith and joy. God has given us fig trees and
grape0 vines to rejoice over. Sheep and cattle may be a source of security and stability to us, but none
provide us with the foundation upon which our life should be built. Only God offers us hope in the most
desolate of circumstances, so that said the author of the Hebrew Epistle: “we who have fled to take hold of
the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 0We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and
secure. It enters0 the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our
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behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
There are (in the midst of the deep darkness and gloom Habakkuk depicts) colors and tones of
brightness and joy that are not even surpassed in the New Testament. The desolation of Habakkuk’s
moonscape is an image of the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. The whole period of Babylonian Captivity
during which Jerusalem lay in ruin and the temple was destroyed was a picture of the broken body of our
Lord. 0Habakkuk’s joy reflects the joy of the resurrection of the dead. Jesus expressed this exuberant joy to
the apostle John with the words: “I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I
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am alive for ever and ever!” According to the apostle Peter, we will share in Christ’s joy. He says:
“Though you have not seen him,0 you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in
him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the
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salvation of your souls.”
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Gen. 1:2
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Heb. 6:18-20
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Rev. 1:17,18
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I Pet. 1:8,9

28
The prophet borrows unashamedly from David, who wrote: “The LORD is my light and my
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0salvation--whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid?” And:
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“He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.”
The Hebrew word rendered here “strength” is chayil, which can mean “a force, whether of men,
means or other resources; an army, wealth, virtue, valor.”
Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words writes about chayil: “This word signifies a faculty
or ‘power,’ the ability to effect or produce something. The word is used of physical ‘strength’ in the sense of
power that can0 be exerted: ‘If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more
strength...’ Eccl 10:10. Quite often this word appears in a military context. Here it is the physical strength,
power, and ability to perform0 in battle that is in view. This idea is used of men in 1 Sam 2:4: ‘The bows of
the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength’ (cf. Ps 18:32,39). Ps 33:17
applies the word to a warhorse. An interesting meaning of chayil appears in Num 24:17-18, where Balaam
prophesied the destruction of Moab and Edom at the hands of Israel: ‘And Edom shall be a possession, Seir
also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly’ v. 18. The idea here is dynamic;
something is happening. One might also render this phrase: ‘Israel performs mightily.’ This translation of the
word is somewhat inexact; a noun is translated as an adverb. Several passages use the word in the sense of
‘0able.’ In Gen 47:6 the ability to do a job well is in view. Pharaoh told Joseph: ‘The land of Egypt is before
thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and
if thou knowest any men of activity [capable men] among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.’ This
word can also represent the domestic skills of a woman-- Ruth is described as a woman of ability and,
therefore, either potentially or actually a good wife Ruth 3:11; Prov 12:4. When applied to men, chayil
sometimes focuses on their ability to conduct themselves well in battle as well as being loyal to their
commanders 1 Sam 14:52; 1 Kings 1:42. When used in such contexts, the word may be translated ‘valiant’:
‘And there was sore war against the0 Philistines all the days of Saul: and when Saul saw any strong man, or
any valiant man, he took 0him unto him’ 1 Sam 14:52; cf. Num 24:18; 1 Sam 14:48.”
In the0 light of the fact that Habakkuk uses the image of the feet of a deer who scales the high
places, his use of the word chayil must probably be interpreted as an ability, a physical burst of energy to do
what is not normally within the scope of one’ capability. Isaiah expresses the meaning of this “mountain top
experience”: “You will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to0 ride on the heights of the land
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and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” As the physical image of the Promised Land is
being destroyed, God introduces the prophet to the spiritually antitype of which Canaan was the
shadow. In the words of the Epistle to the Hebrews: “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people
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of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.”
Habakkuk does not merely state that the Lord gives him strength but “The Sovereign LORD is my
strength.” The Sons of Korah pronounced those blessed whose strengths is Yahweh Adonay. We read:
“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through
the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from
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strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.” David also expressed this experience in his
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prayer: “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”
God showed Habakkuk the coming of one of the darkest moments in Israel’s history. We don’t
know if the prophet was still alive when King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC. In God’s
inscrutable wisdom, the presence of the Lord made this terrible experience “His Finest Hour.” For those
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Ps. 27:1
109
II Sam. 22:34
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Isa. 58:14
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Heb. 4:9,10
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Ps. 84:5-7
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Ps. 61:2

29
who know the Lord, emotional well-being is not determined by circumstances but by a sense of His
presence.
Penang, Malaysia October 1, 2003


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1

Commentary to Habakkuk - Rev. John Schultz

The Name and Background of Habakkuk:

The Date of the Writing of the Book:

The Character of the Book:

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Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary suggests the following

The Text of the Book Habakkuk:

1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received.

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B. God’s First Reply 1:5-11

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C. The Second Question of Habakkuk 1:12--2:1

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D. God’s Second Reply 2:2-20

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II. The Praise of Habakkuk 3

1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.

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B. Habakkuk Remembers God’s Mercy 3:3-15

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C. Habakkuk Trusts in God’s Salvation 3:16-19

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