Biblical Theology XXXI: Habakkuk

The Book of Habakkuk is likely written in the late 7^th Century.  Many scholars think he is a temple prophet due to the use of instruments in their liturgical prophecies. The book is a dialogue between the prophet and God, written for those who are frustrated with God for not ridding the world of evil sooner. The message of Habakkuk is called a burden, as in other prophets (e.g., Zech 9:1; 12:1; Mal 1:1). The idea is that the message God has for His people is a burden to carry for the prophet.

Theology: The Book of Habakkuk is a book of questioning God’s righteousness. It begins by asking why God is not answering the prophet’s prayers to bring judgment upon the wicked in his community (1:1–4). God then answers by saying that He is bringing the Babylonians to bring down the people of Judah (1:5–11). Habakkuk then responds by asking how this is just since the Babylonians are worse than those in Judah (1:12–2:1). How is God just for allowing a more godless nation to destroy one that is less godless? 

God answers by stating that He will destroy the Babylonians too. They are merely an instrument of His justice, but they too will feel His wrath, as will the whole world (2:2–20). 

The book, therefore, argues that God merely tolerates evil for His purposes. The lack of immediate judgment is not due to God’s indifference toward what is being done within both His covenant community and the world. It is simply God abiding His time and using even the wicked to accomplish His goals.  When He does judge, it will end in the destruction of the current created order and a reckoning with all who live there. This will be a day of great terror, as the prophet himself freezes in terror at the thought of it; but He will judge the wicked in order to preserve His people and His Messiah (3:13).

Ethics:  There are quite a few things to take from the book. The first is that Habakkuk conveys his frustration with God tolerating evil at the beginning of the book, but by the end of the book, he acknowledges God’s justice and asks for mercy (3:2). Perhaps, if Christians actually knew what judgment looked like, they would ask God to give others more time before judgment rather than to judge them immediately. 

Second to this, God is just. His delay in judgment has nothing to do with injustice, but tolerance of the wicked until they have served the purpose He set for them to serve. This should cause the reader to also tolerate the evil among them in the sense that they know it will be judged and that God is letting it reside for a time to complete a greater goal with it.  Hence, although the one who questions  with a wicked mind will be overcome by the evil in the world and the question concerning God’s indifference, the righteous man will live by faith (2:4). In the context of the book, that means that they trust in God’s character and His promises to judge the wicked and to reward the righteous. Rather than going by their experience of seeing evil all around in the world, and getting their theology of God from that, they trust in the revelation they have been given by God (2:2–3).

The righteous, because they live by faith, after they question God and listen to His answers, will praise and glorify Him (Chapter 3). If this is not the response of questioning, it is not because God has not answered it, but because the person asking does not have an upright mind in asking them (2:4). Something to which many apostates attest by the rebellious lifestyles they choose to live out once they unshackle themselves from God due to their justification that God either does not exist or care because of the evil in the world.

Finally, questioning God is perfectly fine when one listens to the biblical answers God gives via revelation. A questioning that ignores the answers God gives is rebellious, but the type seen here in Habakkuk, one that ends in the praise and glorification of God, is actually a type of righteous questioning that does not bottle up in bitter sentiments toward God, but is honest with Him in seeking to worship Him through the questions.