Study Notes

1:1 prophecy. Such as the two found here (vv. 5–11; 2:2–20). Prophecies were frequently received in visions. The Hebrew word for “prophecy” perhaps refers to a revelation containing warnings of impending doom (see Isa 13:1 and note; 15:1; 19:1; 22:1), but in Zec 9:1; 12:1; Mal 1:1 it refers to messages that also contain hope. Habakkuk. The name is probably Babylonian and refers to a kind of garden plant. prophet. Habakkuk is called a prophet also in 3:1, tying ch. 3 closely to chs. 1–2. See notes on Ex 3:4; 7:1–2; 1Ki 22:19; Jnh 3:2; Zec 1:1.

1:2—2:20 A dialogue between the prophet and God. The basic themes are age-old: Why does evil seem to go unpunished? Why does God not respond to prayer?

1:2 How long . . . ? See Ps 6:3 and note; 13:1–2; 22:1–2. Violence! At this time Judah was probably under King Jehoiakim, who was ambitious, cruel and corrupt. Habakkuk describes the social corruption and spiritual apostasy of Judah in the late seventh century bc.

1:3 you tolerate. See v. 13. The prophet was amazed that God seemed to condone cruelty and violence. Destruction and violence are before me. Jeremiah complains to the Lord in a similar vein (Jer 20:8).

1:4 law is paralyzed . . . justice is perverted. Because wealthy landowners controlled the courts through bribery (see Mic 3:11; 7:3).

1:5 Paul concludes his sermon in Pisidian Antioch by quoting these words (Ac 13:41). your . . . you . . . you. Judah as a whole is addressed (the pronouns are plural). would not believe. To the people of Judah it was incredible that God would give them over to the arrogant Babylonians.

1:6 I am raising up the Babylonians. See Isa 10:5–6 and note on 10:5. The apostate nation of Judah is to be punished through an invasion by the Babylonians, a powerful people who regained their independence from Assyria in 626 bc, destroyed Assyrian power completely in 612–605 and flourished until 539. In this context, the Chaldeans (see NIV text note) are synonymous with the newly resurgent Babylonians. seize dwellings. See 2:6–8.

1:7 promote their own honor. A mark of arrogance.

1:8 The speed with which Babylonia conquered its enemies had become proverbial. eagle. See Dt 28:49–50 and note on 28:49.

1:9 violence. The rapacious cruelty of the Babylonians was more than a match for that of the people of Judah (see v. 2 and note; see also v. 3). gather prisoners like sand. Like their Assyrian predecessors, the Babylonians deported conquered peoples as a matter of deliberate national policy (see 2:5).

1:10 building earthen ramps. A siege method.

1:11 whose own strength is their god. The Babylonians were so proud and confident of their military might that it had virtually become their god (v. 16; see Da 4:30).

1:12 Habakkuk cannot see the justice in Judah’s being punished by an even more wicked nation, and he thinks that the Babylonians surely would not be allowed to conquer Judah completely. from everlasting. See Ps 90:2. You, LORD, have appointed them. The prophet recognizes Babylonia as God’s agent of judgment (cf. Isa 7:18–20; 44:28—45:1). Rock. See 1Sa 2:2 and note.

1:13 A classic statement of the problem of evil within the context of Israel’s faith: Why does evil appear to flourish unchecked by a just and holy God? See Ps 37; 73 and notes. you tolerate. See v. 3 and note. treacherous . . . wicked. The Babylonians. those more righteous. Judah.

1:15 hooks. See note on Am 4:2. catches them in his net. Babylonia’s victims are as powerless as fish swimming into a net. Mesopotamian reliefs symbolically portray conquerors capturing their enemies in fishnets.

1:16 See note on v. 11.

2:1 See Eze 3:17 and note. I will stand at my watch. The figure of a guard looking out from a tower and expecting a response to his challenge. Any rebuke (see NIV text note) would be for questioning God’s justice. ramparts. The walls of Jerusalem. he. God.

2:2–3 revelation. See 1Ch 17:15; Pr 29:18 and note. The Hebrew for this word refers specifically to a prophet’s vision (see, e.g., Isa 1:1 and note).

2:2 Write down. See Isa 30:8; Jer 36:2 and note. so that a herald may run with it. So that a messenger may run to deliver the message and read it to those to whom he has been sent.

2:3 the end. Of the Babylonians, though some refer it to the end times, when God’s redemptive purposes would be completed. wait for it. The following message deals with the fall of Babylon in 539 bc, about 66 years after Habakkuk’s prophecy. The Lord tells Habakkuk (and Judah) that fulfillment of the prophecy may “linger” but that he and the people are to expect it (3:16).

2:4 the enemy. Collective for the Babylonians, but with special reference to their king. but. In contrast to the Babylonians, whose “desires are not upright.” the righteous person will live by his faithfulness. See NIV text note; Eze 18:9; see also Isa 26, especially vv. 1–6. In light of God’s revelation about how (and when) he is working, his people are to wait patiently and live faithfully, which includes living by faith—trusting in their sovereign God. The clause is quoted frequently in the NT to support the teaching that people are saved by grace through faith (Ro 1:17; Gal 3:11; cf. Eph 2:8 and note) and should live by faith (Heb 10:38–39; 11:7). Together with Ge 15:6 (see note there; see also Ro 4:3, 9, 22–23; Gal 3:6; Jas 2:23 and note on 2:21), it became the rallying cry of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century.

2:5 greedy as the grave. “The grave . . . never says, ‘Enough!’ ” (Pr 30:16; see note there; see also notes on Ps 49:14; Isa 5:14).

2:6–20 This taunt, an extended commentary on v. 4a (see note on 3:1), falls into two halves of ten (Hebrew) lines each (vv. 6–14 and vv. 15–20), each half concluding with a significant statement about the Lord’s presence (vv. 14,20). Together these two statements set the five “woes” pronounced against Babylon (vv. 6,9,12,15,19; cf. Isa 5:8–23; Mt 23:13–32; Lk 6:24–26; Rev 9:12; 11:14) in a larger frame of reference of the Lord’s sovereignty and provision. In addition, the first and fourth “woes” echo each other (vv. 8,17).

2:6 all of them taunt him. The threatened victims of the Babylonian onslaught, especially Judah, will taunt ruthless Babylon (Isa 14:4). Woe. The Babylonians’ greed for conquest is condemned.

2:8 plundered many nations. See photo. you have shed human blood. See v. 17. Therefore Babylon’s blood would be shed (see Ge 9:6 and note).

2:9 Woe. The Babylonians’ pride in building is condemned (see v. 12; cf. Jer 22:13). nest on high. Like the eagle building an inaccessible nest, the Babylonians thought their empire to be unconquerable (see Isa 14:4,13–15; cf. Ob 3–4).

2:11 The stones . . . will cry out, and the beams. The stones and beams in Babylonian houses were purchased with plunder and thus testified against the occupants. Cf. Lk 19:40.

2:12 Woe. Babylonian injustice is condemned. Cf. Mic 3:10; Zec 8:16 and note.

2:13 fuel for the fire. The cities built by the labor of the Babylonians (v. 12) will be burned (see Jer 51:58 and note).

2:14 Habakkuk quotes Isa 11:9 and expands its language. The Lord’s future destruction of proud Babylonia and all its worldly glory will cause his greater glory to be known throughout the world (cf. Ex 14:4, 17–18; Rev 17:1—19:4).

2:15 Cf. Ge 9:20–22. Woe. Babylonian violence is condemned. Its rapacious treatment of its neighbors, which included stripping them of all their wealth (cf. what it later did to Jerusalem, 2Ki 25:8–21), is compared to one who makes his neighbors drunk so he can take lewd pleasure from their nakedness.

2:16 be filled with shame . . . be exposed. The Lord will do to Babylonia what it has done to others (see note on Ob 15). cup from the LORD’s right hand. A symbol of divine retribution (see Ps 16:5 and note; Isa 51:17, 21–22; Jer 25:15–17; La 4:21; Rev 14:10 and note; 16:19; see also note on Na 3:11).

2:17 violence you have done to Lebanon. The Babylonians apparently had ravaged the cedar forests of Lebanon to adorn their temples and palaces (see Isa 14:8 and note). destruction of animals. Assyrian inscriptions record hunting expeditions in the Lebanon range, and such sport may have been indulged in by the invading Babylonians as well. Babylonian violence was destructive of all forms of life, not only of lands and cities. you have shed human blood. See v. 8 and note.

2:18–20 This final woe oracle (see note on 2:6–20) offers an ironic contrast between Babylonian idols “unable to speak” and the true God, the Lord, whose presence commands silence.

2:18 idols. The Hebrew for this word means “nonentities” (cf. Isa 41:29; 44:9; Jer 10:15 and the condemnation of idolatry in Ex 20:4–5; see Ps 115:4–7 and note).

2:19 Woe. Babylonian idolatry is condemned. Wake up! Cf. Elijah’s taunt of Baal’s prophets on Mount Carmel (1Ki 18:27).

2:20 The LORD is in his holy temple. From his heavenly temple (cf. Jnh 2:7) he judges all people in accordance with his righteousness (see Ps 11:4–7 and note; Mic 1:2). be silent before him. The stone and wooden idols of the nations (v. 19) are to be silent in helpless submission to the awesome divine judgment (see Zep 1:7; Zec 2:13; cf. Am 6:10; 8:3 and note).

3:1 prayer. In the strict sense, petition is found in this prayer only in v. 2 but, as with many of the psalms, it is set in a larger context of recollection (vv. 3–15) and expression of confidence and trust (vv. 16–19). In fact, Habakkuk’s prayer, an extended commentary on 2:4b (see note on 2:6–20), appears to have been used as a psalm; note the psalm-like heading (v. 1) and the musical and/or literary notations (vv. 1,3 [see NIV text note on this verse],9,13,19). prophet. See 1:1 and note. shigionoth. See Ps 7 title and note.

3:2 heard of your fame. See Ps 44:1; 78:3. In vv. 3–15 Habakkuk recites a poetic celebration of God’s mighty, saving acts of old—perhaps one he had heard at the temple (v. 16).

3:3 God came. When celebrating the exodus, the OT poets (and poet-prophets) combined recollections of the mighty acts of God with conventional images of a fearsome manifestation of the Lord. He came down with his heavenly host and rode on the mighty thunderstorm as his chariot, with his arrows (lightning bolts; see note on Ps 18:14) flying in all directions, a cloudburst of rain descending on the earth and the mountains quaking before him (see Jdg 5:4–5; Ps 18:7–15; 68:7–10; 77:16–19; Mic 1:3 and notes). Such figures characterize many of the references in the following verses. Teman. Means “southland.” God is pictured during the exodus as coming from the area south of Judah. Mount Paran. See Dt 33:2 and note; probably northwest of the Gulf of Aqaba and south of Kadesh Barnea, between Edom and Sinai. For Selah, see NIV text note and Introduction to Psalms: Authorship and Titles (or Superscriptions), last paragraph. filled the earth. See note on 2:14.

3:5 Plague . . . pestilence. Means of divine punishment (cf. Ex 7:14—12:30; Lev 26:25; Ps 91:3,6).

3:6 God’s presence was frequently marked by earthquakes (Ex 19:18; Ps 18:7; Jer 4:24; 10:10; Na 1:5). Landslides may also be alluded to here.

3:7 Cushan . . . Midian. Arab tribes living near Edom. distress . . . anguish. When Israel was delivered from Egypt under Moses, neighboring peoples were filled with fear (Ex 15:14–16; Jos 2:9–10).

3:8 Poetic allusions to the plague on the Nile (Ex 7:20–24) and/or the stopping of the Jordan (Jos 3:15–17), as well as to the parting of the “Red Sea” (Ex 14:15–31).

3:9 arrows. Probably lightning bolts unleashed by the heavenly archer (see Ps 18:14 and note; 144:6). rivers. Caused by the accompanying thunderstorms.

3:11 Sun and moon stood still. Probably an allusion to the victory at Gibeon (see Jos 10:12–13 and note on 10:13), indicating that God’s triumph over his enemies would be just as complete as on that occasion.

3:12 threshed. See note on Am 1:3.

3:13 deliver your people. God fought against the nations of Canaan (v. 12) but delivered his people. save. By giving victory to. anointed one. The covenant nation (“your people”; see Ps 28:9), the “kingdom of priests” (Ex 19:6; see note there), which God came to deliver. He destroyed the enemy and in this great act of wrath (v. 12) remembered mercy (v. 2). leader of the land of wickedness. The pharaoh (Ex 14:5–9).

3:14–15 Another reference to the destruction of the Egyptians in the “Red Sea.” God will likewise vanquish present foes.

3:15 horses. See v. 8 and note.

3:16 The hymnic recollection of God’s mighty deeds of old in Israel’s behalf (vv. 3–15) fills the prophet with an awe so profound that he feels physically weak. Alternatively, it is possible that the message from the Lord that Babylonia would be sent against Judah (1:5–11) had so devastated him that he felt ill—until he heard the Lord’s further word. wait patiently. See 2:3 and note; Ps 37:7. nation invading us. Babylonia.

3:17 Probably anticipates the awful results of the imminent Babylonian invasion and devastation. This verse demonstrates that bad things can and do happen to good people.

3:18–19 Habakkuk has learned the lesson of faith (2:4)—to trust in God’s providence regardless of circumstances. He declares that even if God should send extreme suffering and loss, he would still rejoice in God his Savior—one of the strongest affirmations of faith in all Scripture.

3:18 rejoice in the LORD. See Ps 32:11; Php 3:1; 4:4. be joyful in God my Savior. See Lk 1:47.

3:19 makes my feet like the feet of a deer. Gives me sure-footed confidence (Ps 18:33). director. Probably the conductor of the temple musicians. This chapter may have formed part of the temple prayers that were chanted with the accompaniment of instruments (1Ch 16:4–7). stringed instruments. Including harp and lyre (Ps 33:2; 92:3; 144:9).