Habakkuk: God's Justice and Salvation

1. A Look at the Book
1. Author:
1. book bears the name of its author, "Habakkuk the prophet" (v 1)
2. Name not Hebrew in origin, possible meaning, "embrace"
2. Date -- shortly before the first Babylonian invasion = 606 B.C.
3. Contemporaries - Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Nahum, Ezekiel, Daniel
4. Theme -- God's Justice and Salvation
5. Style:
1. classic Hebrew poetry
2. Habakkuk begins with "the burden," meaning revelation or oracle ; Jehovah is implied as the source (cf Nahum, Malachi)
3. 2/3 of the book is a conversation b/w the prophet & Jehovah in complaint and answer form.
6. Division of the Book
1. 1:1-4 -- Habakkuk wonders why sin prevails over good
2. 1:5-11 -- God answers with the uprising of the Babylonians
3. 1:12 - 2:1 -- Habakkuk declares God's wisdom & righteousness
4. 2:2-5 -- God commands Habakkuk to make it plain
5. 2:6-20 -- five pronouncements against the Babylonians
6. 3:1-19 -- Habakkuk's prayer (acrostic poem, cf Ps 119, Lam)
7. History -- Habakkuk was one of the books found among the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, although only to chapters are present. These scrolls date to approximately the first century B.C.

1. Great Texts / Lessons
1. 1:1 -- "Oh Lord, how long shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear!"
2. 1:13 -- "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity. Why then . . .?"
3. 1:7 -- "their judgment and dignity shall proceed of themselves."
4. 1:14-17 -- the ravenous nature of the Babylonian empire, worshiping their own ability (v 16, cf Acts 12:21-23)
5. 2:2 -- "make it plain upon tables"
6. 2:4 -- "the just shall live by his faith"
1. LXX -- "the just shall live by my (God's) faith"
2. Literally, "the just by faith shall live." That is to say, by the system of religion prescribed by God with integrity and fidelity, as opposed to Judah's unfaithfulness which brought death.
3. Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38
7. 3:17-19 -- Habakkuk's dedication to Jehovah, come what may