Habakkuk’s Prayer

Habbakkuk 3:1-19

“A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.   O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.” (Habakkuk 3:1-2)

Habakkuk had seen visions of what was to come for Judah.  He takes time to pray, and his focus is upon Shigionoth, straying or not following the rules.  The same Hebrew word is used in the title of Psalm 7.  Having heard God’s warning, he was worried about what was coming and asked God to revive his efforts to get the people’s attention  before his judgment fell, and that he would show mercy when he sent judgment.   

“God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran.  Selah.  His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.  And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.  Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.  He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting. ” (Habakkuk 3:3-6)

Teman was one of the Edomite cities, and Paran was the part of the wilderness where Israel spent forty years.  When God brought Israel into the land of Canaan, he went before them, revealing his glory like light and demonstrating his power, sending pestilences, and demonstrating his power with fire.  His power was seen in the shaking and burning on Mount Sinai, and in the earthquake  that destroyed Korah and his followers. 

“I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.  Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?  Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.  The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.  The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear. ” (Habakkuk 3:7-11)

The Midianites and the inhabitants of the wilderness had feared Israel.  God had enabled them to cross the Red See and the Jordan River on dry ground.  God protected Israel and gave them water from the rock, forming a river.  The sun and moon stood still while God gave a victory.  Habakkuk is reviewing some of the miraculous things God had done in nature. 

“Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.  Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.  Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.  Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters. ” (Habakkuk 3: 12-15)

God had done equally amazing things in the nations around them, giving Israel victories against far more powerful countries.  When the Canaanites united against Israel, God had destroyed all the leaders, enabling Israel to take the land.  Even Egypt’s efforts to capture them ended with God escorting Israel across the Sea then drowning the Egyptian army. 

“When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.” (Habakkuk 3: 16)

When he heard God’s impending judgment, Habakkuk was upset at his stomach to think of God’s power being turned against Judah.  He was totally overcome with the realization that there was nothing they could do to prevent his judgment.  His only hope was that God would protect him when it came. 

“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments. ” (Habakkuk 3: 17-19)

When God’s judgment falls, the economy will collapse and famine will sweep over the land.  The various fruit trees will not bear fruit, and the flocks and herds of livestock will starve.   Habakkuk will continue to trust in the Lord to care for him and bless him, even while the rest of the people are struggling to survive. 

Habakkuk’s attitude is very much the attitude Christians should have about God’s judgment on our lands, including during the Tribulation if we are here to go through it.  We should be troubled at what those around us will suffer, but confident that God will carry us through safely, no matter how bad it may become.   

Making The Message Clear

Habakkuk 2:1-20

“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. ” (Habakkuk 2:1)

Habakkuk has made a commitment to stay on duty listening for what God will direct him to do and be ready to respond when sin is pointed out. 

“And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.  For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. ” (Habakkuk 2:2-3)

Habakkuk’s job is to write the vision down clearly so that people can see what they need to do and respond.  It is not so urgent but what they will have time to act if they pay attention, but it will surely happen if they delay.   It will not be postponed because they didn’t pay attention. 

“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.  Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people: Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay! ” (Habakkuk 2:4-6)

The proud man is not a righteous man.  He thinks he is above punishment, sinning by drinking, by running around, by trying to get more stuff.  He reaches a point where nothing satisfies him, going to other countries and trying to establish connections with all of them.   The end result will be that they turn on him, accusing him of taking things he has no right and of rolling in thick mud. 

“Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?  Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. ” (Habakkuk 2:7-8)

Judah had ruled many nations, and they time when they will turn on them like a pet lion or alligator, suddenly awakened.  When it happens Judah will just be a pair of house shoes for them. They will be treated the way they had treated others because of the people they had killed and the crime they  were ignoring.      

Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!  Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. ” (Habakkuk 2:9-10)

There will be much sorrow and regret to the person who has cheated and taken advantage to try to set himself above others and avoid the problems they have.  In doing so, they have brought shame on their family by hurting other people and brought God’s  judgment on themselves.

“For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.  Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!  Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?  For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. ” (Habakkuk 2:11-14)

While they may think their sin will go unnoticed, the very rocks and tembers of their house will call out to God.  Those who have gotten ahead by destroying others will be punished.  God will bring them to point of being forced to work right in the fire, and exhaust themselves without accomplishment.  The earth will finally understand that everything is the result of God’s actions, not man’s accomplishments. 

“Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!  Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD'S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.  For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. ” (Habakkuk 2:15-17)

Those who have encouraged others to sin will be especially punished.  The pleasure they got from seeing him in trouble will be an embarrassment to them.  Their own foolishness and wickedness will be exposed like a man caught naked in another man’s house.   His pride will become his shame, as if somebody poured excrement on it.  Lebanon had become a country of constant fighting that would spill over and engulf Judah, even affecting the animals because of the number of people killed and the savagery of trhe people in both city and country. 

“ What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?  Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. ” (Habakkuk 2:18-19)

The idols they had made of wood, stone, and precious metals would offer no protection from God’s judgment, or even from their human enemies.  None of them had even the power to breathe, much less act on their maker’s behalf.  No amount of prayers or sacrifices will bring them to life.

“But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. ” (Habakkuk 2:20)

God is alive and well, and has power to respond.  The people of the earth need to shut up and listen to him.  If they ignore him, they have only themselves to blame for the consequences.

The Rise Of Babylon

Habakkuk 1:1-17

“The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.” (Habakkuk 1:1)

Habakkuk doesn’t tell us when he prophesied, but his reference to Chaldeans indicates he wrote around 630-620 BC, about the time the Chaldeans began to rebel against the Assyrian occupation.  He would have made this prophecy about the time Jeremiah started, and before Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah.  His message is similar to what Jeremiah prophesied. 

”O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!  Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.  Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. ” (Habakkuk 1:2-4)

Habakkuk was concerned for Judah because everywhere he looked he saw sin, and his prayers for God to end it didn’t seem to produce any results.   Crime was rampant, and the whole country was divided.  As a result, people ignored God’s law and there was no real justice because wicked men had been able to overrun the righteous and pervert the courts.

“Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.  For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.” (Habakkuk 1:5-6)

Babylon and the Chaldeans had been ruled by the Assyrians for nearly two hundred years.  In 626 BC, Nabopolassar began to reunite the Chaldeans, crushing the Assyrians in 612 BC.  Later, his son, Nebuchadnezzar would conquer the entire region.  God warns the people around that he is going to raise them up and give them that victory. 

“They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.  Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.” (Habakkuk 1:7-8)

The Chaldeans took great pride in their two thousand year history and their reputation for culture and education.  They bred the ancestors of our modern Arabians and thoroughbreds.  With such horses their cavalry was able to make swift and unexpected attacks on distant lands.    

“They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.  And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.  Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god. ” (Habakkuk 1:9-11)

The Babylonians would fight for the shear love of battle, and they would take captives like a strong wind picking up sand.  Under Nebuchadnezzar they conquered every nation they attacked, throwing up earthworks around them and besieging them until the cities fell.   Nebuchadnezzar turned to God, but after his death his descendants turned to the old Babylonian idols such as Marduke, crediting him with the victories rather than God. 

“Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.  Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?  And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

 They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.  Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.  Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations? ” (Habakkuk 1:12-17)

Habakkuk recognizes God as the eternal God who has made a covenant with Israel that they will not be completely destroyed.  As a righteous God, he cannot bear to see sin, and has promised correction or punishment for those who persist in it.  He wonders why God allows the things that are happening in Judah to continue, with the wicked taking advantage of the good. 

It was almost like God had turned them into a bunch of fish and the wicked were fishermen catching them.  Some they caught with hooks and enclosed others with nets, then used drag nets to find those they hadn’t already caught.  Because of their success in catching the good, the wicked began to worship the evil that let them catch them because they get rich by taking advantage.  Was God going to keep on letting them empty the nets and do it again?