Habakkuk 2:1-5
SS Lesson for 02/25/2024
Devotional Scriptures: Ps 33:8-11
The book of Habakkuk gives us virtually no personal information regarding “Habakkuk the prophet” (Habakkuk 1:1). His name occurs only one other time after the first chapter (see 3:1). Even then, the text provides no further information about the man. Compared to other Old Testament prophets (examples: Isaiah 1:1; Jeremiah 1:1-3), we know nothing regarding the exact details of the life of Habakkuk. However, some clues in the text of Habakkuk inform our educated guesses regarding the man and his times. Early in the book, the Lord promised to raise “the Babylonians” (also called Chaldeans) to punish the kingdom of Judah (Habakkuk 1:6). Using the then-future Babylonian exile of 586 BC as a historical marker, Habakkuk likely served sometime during the last decade of the seventh century BC; that would have been during the reign of evil King Jehoiakim (609-598 BC). Following the split of Israel into two kingdoms in about 931 BC (1 Kings 11:43-12:24), things went pretty much downhill for both. The kingdoms of “Israel” (10 tribes to the north) and “Judah” (2 tribes to the south) glared at each other for about 200 years until the Assyrians conquered and exiled the northern tribes in 722 BC (2 Kings 17). The southern kingdom of Judah narrowly escaped the same fate (18:13-19:36), even though they were also guilty of the same behavior that led to the destruction of their northern kin (17:18-20). About a century later, the Babylonian Empire became the regional superpower after defeating the Assyrians and Egyptians at the battle of Carchemish in 605 BC (Jeremiah 46:2). King Josiah of Judah unwisely interfered, contributing to the Babylonian victory; Josiah’s action also cost him his life (2 Chronicles 35:20-27). Just as Habakkuk 1:6 promised, Babylonian forces invaded Judah and overthrew its king (see 36:5-8). For a few years, Judah’s kings served as vassals to the Babylonians. However, this arrangement didn’t last. During the final year of the reign of King Zedekiah (586 BC), Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah fell to the Babylonians after about a decade of conflict (see 2 Kings 25). There was a series of deportations from Judah by the Babylonians, one each in 605, 594, and 586 BC. Habakkuk likely served prior to the first of those, given the future tense of Habakkuk 1:6. This places Habakkuk as a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah. Both prophets received a warning that the people of Jerusalem would face dire consequences because of sinful behavior.
An outline of the book of Habakkuk reveals a conversation between the prophet and the Lord. Two sections of the book consist of the prophet’s questions to the Lord (Habakkuk 1:2-4; 1:12-2:1). Following each round of inquiry, the Lord responded (1:5-11; 2:2-20). In Habakkuk’s first section of questioning, he expressed discontent that the Lord had seemingly not heard the prophet’s call for correction of sin. In his complaint, the prophet’s conclusion for this uncorrected state of affairs was that “the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails” (1:4). The Lord answered that he was going to use the Babylonians to punish Judah and Jerusalem (1:5-11). This response left Habakkuk even more confused. In his lengthy rejoinder, the prophet asked why the Lord would use a less-righteous nation to punish a more-righteous nation (Habakkuk 1:12-2:1). Today’s text picks up at the very end of Habakkuk’s second complaint.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry
(Scriptural Text from the New King James Version; cross-references from the NIV)
1 I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.
2 Then the Lord answered me and said: "Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession — to the praise of his glory.
22 Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
3 What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." 4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
6 Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." 7 Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. 8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you." 9 So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
13 It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.
14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
20 We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.
15 I wait for you, O Lord; you will answer, O Lord my God.
166 I wait for your salvation, O Lord, and I follow your commands.
18 Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
4 "Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.
5 "Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, He is a proud man, and he does not stay at home. Because he enlarges his desire as hell, and he is like death, and cannot be satisfied, He gathers to himself all nations and heaps up for himself all peoples.
23 Love the Lord, all his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full.
25 The Lord tears down the proud man's house but he keeps the widow's boundaries intact.
5 The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure.
10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' 14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
3 Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
38 But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."
30 Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. 31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! 32 In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.
16 Woe to you, O land whose king was a servant and whose princes feast in the morning. 17 Blessed are you, O land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at a proper time — for strength and not for drunkenness.
18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
20 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, 21 for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure.
11 The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
5 Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. 4 Even on his bed he plots evil; he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong.
8 He who plots evil will be known as a schemer. 9 The schemes of folly are sin, and men detest a mocker.
1 Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning's light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. 2 They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud a man of his home, a fellowman of his inheritance. 3 Therefore, the Lord says: "I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.
17 do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this," declares the Lord.
28 A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.
10 Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended.
20 Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.
23 Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.
14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
The Lord gave Habakkuk a full answer to his question about using Babylon to judge the Israelites.
Habakkuk compared himself to a sentinel on a city wall watching the horizon for the approach of a horseman. He purposed to watch and wait expectantly for the Lord to reply to this second question, as He had the first, so he could report it to his people (cf. Habakkuk 3:16). He prepared himself for a discussion with the Lord about the situation as well as for the Lord’s answer that he expected in a vision or dream (cf. Job 13:3; Job 23:4).
"Only by revelation can the genuine perplexities of God’s dealings with human beings be comprehended." [Note: Robertson, p. 166.]
"Yahweh’s response to those who inquire of him is never automatic. They must be willing to wait in order to hear ’what God the LORD will speak’ (Psalms 85:9 [8])." [Note: Bruce, p. 857.]
Yahweh did respond and told the prophet to make a permanent, easy-to-read record of the vision, which He would give him, on tablets (of clay, stone, or metal; cf. Exodus 31:18; Exodus 32:15-16; Deuteronomy 9:10; Deuteronomy 27:8). Having received and recorded the vision, Habakkuk, and other messengers, should then run to tell their fellow citizens what God’s answer was.
"The matter was to be made so clear that whoever read it might run and publish it." [Note: Kerr, p. 876. Cf. Daniel 12:4.]
"It [the interpretation of the Lord’s command here] could involve passers-by, who will be able to read the message as they go by and then pass the message on informally to those they meet, or it could mean a herald, whose specific function will be to spread the message throughout the land (so NEB, NIV)." [Note: Baker, p. 59.]
The vision Habakkuk was about to receive concerned events to take place in the future. Though it was a prophecy that would not come to pass immediately, it would materialize eventually. Habakkuk was to wait for its fulfillment because it would indeed come at the Lord’s appointed time.
The writer of the Book of Hebrews quoted this verse (Hebrews 10:37). He used it to encourage his readers to persevere in their commitment to Jesus Christ since what God has predicted will eventually come to pass, which in the context of Hebrews is the Lord’s return.
Proud Babylon was not right in doing what she did but was puffed up with pride and evil passions. In contrast, the righteous one will live by his faith (cf. Genesis 15:6). By implication, Babylon, the unrighteous one, would not live because she did not live by faith (trust in God) but by sight and might. She sought to gratify her ambitions by running over other people rather than by submitting to God’s sovereignty.
This verse appears three times in the New Testament. Paul quoted it in Romans 1:17 and emphasized "righteous." Faith in God results in righteousness for both Jews and Gentiles. He used it again in Galatians 3:11 but to stress "live." Rather than obtaining new life by obeying the Mosaic Law, the righteous person does so by faith. In Galatians Paul was addressing Gentiles mainly. The writer of Hebrews also quoted this verse in Hebrews 10:38, but his emphasis was on "faith." It is faith that God will reward in the righteous. In this case the original readers were primarily Jews. In all three cases "live" has the broader reference to eternal life, but here it is mainly physical life that is in view. Thus this verse is clearly an important revelation in the Bible, even its essential message.
"It takes three books to explain and apply this one verse!" [Note: Warren W. Wiersbe, "Habakkuk," in The Bible Exposition Commentary/Prophets, p. 411.]
This is the key verse in Habakkuk because it summarizes the difference between the proud Babylonians and their destruction with the humble faith of the Israelites and their deliverance. The issue is trust in God.
"’The just shall live by his faith’ was the watchword of the Reformation, and they may well be the seven most important monosyllables in all of church history." [Note: Ibid., p. 416.]
"The underlying theme of the book may be summarized as follows: A matured faith trusts humbly but persistently in God’s design for establishing righteousness in the earth." [Note: Robertson, p. 136. Italics omitted.]
Bruce stated the theme of the book as "the preservation of loyal trust in God in face of the challenge to faith presented by the bitter experience of foreign invasion and oppression." [Note: Bruce, p. 831.]
The Hebrew word ’emunah, "faith," can also mean "faithful" or "steadfast." It can also mean "integrity." [Note: Chisholm, Handbook on . . ., pp. 437-38.] Did the Lord mean that the righteous will live by his trust in God or by being faithful to God, by being a person of integrity? Scripture elsewhere reveals that both meanings are true: trust and integrity. However in this context "faith" or trust seems to be the primary meaning since the Babylonians did not trust God whereas the Israelites did. Both the Babylonians and the Israelites had been unfaithful to God.
"The discrepancy between ’faith’ and ’faithfulness’ is more apparent than real, however. For man to be faithful in righteousness entails dependent trust in relation to God (e.g., 1 Samuel 26:23-24); such an attitude is clearly demanded in the present context of waiting for deliverance (Habakkuk 2:3; Habakkuk 3:16-19)." [Note: Armerding, p. 513.]
"This is the first of three wonderful assurances that God gives in this chapter to encourage His people. This one emphasizes God’s grace, because grace and faith always go together. Habakkuk 2:14 emphasizes God’s glory and assures us that, though this world is now filled with violence and corruption (Genesis 6:5; Genesis 6:11-13), it shall one day be filled with God’s glory. The third assurance is in Habakkuk 2:20 and emphasizes God’s government. Empires may rise and fall, but God is on His holy throne, and He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 416.]
Having prepared the prophet for His answer, the Lord now gave it. What follows must be that revelation.
The Lord advanced the thought of Habakkuk 2:4 further. When a person drinks too much wine it leads him to reveal his pride publicly. The Babylonians were known for their consumption of wine (e.g., Daniel 5). Wine makes a person dissatisfied with his present situation and possessions, and he often leaves his home to find more elsewhere (cf. Proverbs 23:31-32). The proud person is never satisfied, like death that consumes people every day and never stops. Babylon was similar, opening wide its jaws to consume all peoples. The proud person also seeks to dominate others, and this too marked Babylon. These were the evidences of Babylon’s pride and the basis of Yahweh’s indictment of this nation (cf. Habakkuk 1:17).
"Sheol is, in the O.T., the place to which the dead go. (1) Often, therefore, it is spoken of as the equivalent of the grave, where all human activities cease; the terminus toward which all human life moves (e.g. Genesis 42:38; Job 14:13; Psalms 88:3). (2) To the man ’under the sun,’ the natural man, who of necessity judges from appearances, sheol seems no more than the grave-the end and total cessation, not only of the activities of life, but also of life itself (Ecclesiastes 9:5; Ecclesiastes 9:10). But (3) Scripture reveals sheol as a place of sorrow (2 Samuel 22:6; Psalms 18:5; Psalms 116:3), into which the wicked are turned (Psalms 9:17), and where they are fully conscious (Isaiah 14:9-17; Ezekiel 32:21). Compare Jonah 2:2; what the belly of the great fish was to Jonah, sheol is to those who are therein. The sheol of the O.T. and hades of the N.T. are identical." [Note: The New Scofield Reference Bible, p. 954.]
Because of the Babylonians’ sins it was inevitable that the righteous would taunt and mock them. They would pronounce woe on them for increasing what was not theirs just to have more and for making themselves rich by charging exorbitant interest on loans. How long would this go on, they asked themselves (cf. Habakkuk 1:2). When would God judge Babylon?
The Lord pronounced taunts or mocking statements on the Babylonians announcing that they would receive judgment for their sins. This taunt song consists of five stanzas of three verses each. Five woes follow. Baker entitled them "the pillager," "the plotter," "the promoter of violence," "the debaucher," and "the pagan idolator." [Note: Baker, pp. 62, 64, 65, and 67.] Each woe is "an interjection of distress pronounced in the face of disaster or in view of coming judgment (cf. Isaiah 3:11; Isaiah 5:11; Isaiah 10:5; et al.)." [Note: Blue, p. 1514.]
Those from whom Babylon had stolen would surely rise up and rebel when they woke up to what was going on. Then they would turn the tables and Babylon would become plunder for them. This happened when the Medes and Persians rose up and overthrew Babylon in 539 B.C.
Babylon would suffer the same punishment it had inflicted on other nations (cf. Proverbs 22:8; Galatians 6:7). Its survivors would loot it because it had looted other peoples. Babylon’s pillaging had involved human bloodshed and ethical wrong ("violence") done to the land of Canaan and to the city of Jerusalem and its inhabitants.
Babylon used its unjust acquisitions to build a secure place for itself that it thought would be safe from all calamity (cf. Genesis 11:4). It built a strong and rich dynasty (house) so it would be self-sufficient. Another interpretation is that the secure nest in view is the capital city. [Note: Bruce, p. 867.]
Saving to protect oneself from large future expenses is not wrong in itself, but to build a fortune so one will not have to trust in anyone else is saving with the wrong attitude (cf. James 5:1-6).
It was shameful for the Babylonians to destroy other peoples (cf. Habakkuk 2:5; Habakkuk 2:8). By doing so they were sinning against themselves. That is, they were doing something that would eventually bring destruction on themselves.
The stones and woodwork taken from other nations to build the Babylonians’ fortresses and palaces would serve as visual witnesses to the sinful invasions that brought them to Babylon. They would testify to the guilt of the Babylonians in the day that Yahweh would bring Babylon to judgment. Ostentatious buildings and cities make statements about their builders.
The Babylonians could expect distress because they had built their cities at the expense of the lives of their enemies. We speak of "blood money" as money obtained by making others suffer, even shedding their blood. Babylon was built with "blood money" and the blood, sweat, and tears of enslaved people. It was a town founded on injustice; without injustice it could not have become what it had become.
This verse is the center of this taunt song structurally. It is significant that it focuses on almighty Yahweh, the Judge. His assessment was that the Babylonians’ hard work was in vain; all their labor would amount to nothing. Their works would turn out to be fuel for fire that would burn them up, the fire of His judgment (cf. Jeremiah 51:58).
Rather than the earth being filled with the glory of Babylon, it will one day be filled with knowledge of God’s glory, as comprehensively as the waters cover the sea (cf. Numbers 14:21; Psalms 72:19; Isaiah 6:3; Isaiah 11:9; Jeremiah 31:34). This has yet to be. This prediction refers to the ultimate destruction of Babylon in the eschatological future (cf. Revelation 16:19 to Revelation 18:24).
The Babylon in view in the Book of Habakkuk was mainly the Neo-Babylonian Empire, but ever since Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) "Babylon" had a symbolic meaning as well as a literal one. Symbolically it represented all ungodly peoples who rose up in self-reliance to glorify themselves and reach heaven by their own works. God destroyed the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 B.C., but what Babylon represents will continue until God destroys it when Jesus Christ returns to the earth to set up His new order in the Millennium (cf. Revelation 17-18).
God would judge Babylon because the Babylonians had deceived their neighbor nations with the result that they were able to take advantage of them. The Babylonians had behaved like a man who gets a woman drunk so she will lose her self-control and he can then undress her. That the Babylonians took advantage of their victims sexually is implied in the illustration, as is their love for wine.
(Adapted from URL:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/dcc/habakkuk-2.html)
Is it OK to question God’s (apparent) actions or inactions? The dependable answer is, “It depends.” We see God tolerating, even welcoming, questions in numerous places (examples: Judges 20:18; James 1:5; 4:2). One thing God does not tolerate, however, are inquiries that question his justice (see Job 40:8; Ezekiel 18:25-29; Jeremiah 2:29). The prophet Habakkuk came close to doing that. Consider the following thumbnail sketch of the book:
Question 1: Why do you, O God, tolerate the sins of your people?
Response 1: Don’t worry about it—I’m sending the Babylonians to punish them.
Question 2: How is it fair to use the less-righteous to punish the more-righteous?
Response 2: Don’t worry about it—the Babylonians will get theirs too.
God’s ending of the discussion: Be quiet!
When our suffering does not seem “fair,” there are a lot of questions we might naturally ask. God was under no obligation to answer Habakkuk’s questions, and he is not obligated to answer ours. Habakkuk needed faith to trust the Lord’s plans, regardless of whether or not those plans made human sense. God reminded Habakkuk that a life of faithfulness was most important. And the faith we are talking about isn’t “blind faith”, a faith where one merely believes. Instead, the faith we are talking about is a faith based on evidence. God has a long track record of faithfulness to his promises. Upon that track record is where our faith is based. Such faith trusts God’s control in all circumstances. As a result, we can be secure in him, regardless of whether or not we understand his plans.