I added the picture above to the message I shared with you below.
[source: Insight.org]
Why is Habakkuk so important?
Habakkuk provides us one of the most remarkable sections in all of Scripture, as it contains an extended dialogue between Habakkuk and God (Habakkuk 1–2). The prophet initiated this conversation based on his distress about God’s “inaction” in the world. He wanted to see God do something more, particularly in the area of justice for evildoers. The book of Habakkuk pictures a frustrated prophet, much like Jonah, though Habakkuk channeled his frustration into prayers and eventually praise to God, rather than trying to run from the Lord as Jonah did.
What's the big idea?
As the prophet Habakkuk stood in Jerusalem and pondered the state of his nation, Judah, he must have been dumbfounded. So much evil thrived, completely in the open, but God remained strangely silent. Where was He? How long would He allow this mess to continue? Not long, according to the Lord (Habakkuk 2:2–3). Another nation, the Babylonians, would come and execute justice on the Lord’s behalf. The wicked in Judah, those who thought they would get away with their evil deeds forever, were soon to be punished.
The book of Habakkuk offers us a picture of a prideful people being humbled, while the righteous live by faith in God (2:4). It reminds us that while God may seem silent and uninvolved in our world, He always has a plan to deal with evil and always works out justice . . . eventually. The example of the prophet Habakkuk encourages believers to wait on the Lord, expecting that He will indeed work out all things for our good (Romans 8:28).
Where are we?
Determining the date of the book of Habakkuk is quite a bit easier than dating most books. He spoke often of an imminent Babylonian invasion (Habakkuk 1:6; 2:1; 3:16), an event that occurred on a smaller scale in 605 BC before the total destruction of Judah’s capital city, Jerusalem, in 586 BC. The way Habakkuk described Judah indicates a low time in its history. If the dating is to remain close to the Babylonian invasion, Habakkuk likely prophesied in the first five years of Jehoiakim’s reign (609–598 BC) to a king who led his people into evil.
Habakkuk’s prophecy was directed to a world that, through the eyes of God’s people, must have seemed on the edge of disaster. Even when the northern kingdom had been destroyed in 722 BC, God’s people remained in Judah. However, with another powerful foreign army on the rampage, faithful people like Habakkuk were wondering what God was doing. Hadn’t He given the land to His people? Would He now take it away? Habakkuk’s prayer of faith for the remainder of God’s people in the face of such destruction still stands today as a remarkable witness of true faith and undying hope.
[source: GotQuestions.org]
Jehoiakim (named Eliakim at birth, 2 Chronicles 36:4) was one of the last kings of Judah before the Babylonian Captivity. Jehoiakim was a son of good King Josiah (Jeremiah 26:1) of Judah. His mother’s name was Zebidah (2 Kings 23:36). Jehoiakim’s father, King Josiah, had returned Judah to the Lord by tearing down idol shrines and restoring obedience to God’s Law (2 Kings 23:19–25). After Josiah’s death, his son Jehoahaz was chosen king by the people. But, as often happened in those days, Jehoahaz did not follow in the footsteps of his father but “did evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 23:32). Jehoahaz only reigned three months before he was taken into captivity by the king of Egypt, who replaced Jehoahaz with his brother Eliakim (2 Kings 23:26; 2 Chronicles 36:5). The Egyptian king renamed the 25-year-old Eliakim “Jehoiakim.”
Jehoiakim also did evil in the Lord’s sight (2 Kings 23:37). Because of the ongoing, unrepentant sin of the nation of Judah, God sent invading armies to capture and enslave them. Jehoiakim was taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar, who put him in chains and carted him off to Babylon (2 Kings 24:1; 2 Chronicles 36:6;). It was at this time that Daniel and his three friends were also taken to Babylon (Daniel 1:1–2). Jehoiakim was later returned to Jerusalem, although he had to act as Nebuchadnezzar’s servant for three years and pay tribute to him.
During the time King Jehoiakim reigned as a vassal of Babylon, the prophet Jeremiah preached in Jerusalem. God’s message was that the Babylonian invasion was God’s punishment for Judah’s sin and that the Hebrews should repent. Jehoiakim called for Jeremiah’s scroll to be read in his court. But, as every three or four columns of the scroll were read, “the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes” (Jeremiah 36:23–24). Rather than heed God’s warning, Jehoiakim hardened his heart and tried to destroy God’s Word (see Jeremiah 25:1–4). Earlier, Jehoiakim had murdered the godly prophet Uriah (Jeremiah 26:20–23).
Jehoiakim reigned eleven years (2 Kings 23:36; 2 Chronicles 36:5). Jeremiah rewrote the scroll that Jehoiakim had burned, and God pronounced judgment on the king: “Therefore this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night” (Jeremiah 36:30). “He will be buried like a dead donkey—dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!” (Jeremiah 22:19, NLT). This prophecy was fulfilled when, in the eleventh year of Jehoiakim’s reign, he stopped paying tribute to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar responded by besieging Jerusalem. According to Josephus, Jehoiakim was killed during the siege, and his body was thrown over the city wall.
After Jehoiakim’s ignoble death, his son Jehoiachin succeeded him as the new king in Judah. Jehoiachin reigned only three months and ten days (2 Chronicles 36:9) before he, too, was taken to Babylon while the foreign king appointed his successor (2 Chronicles 36:10). This appointment of kings by the people or by invading armies was a far cry from the holy anointing of God’s chosen ones by His prophets in days gone by. The removal of God from Judah’s political process was another indication of just how far the Jewish people had fallen away from their God.
My highlight above is for the Illuminati Kabbalist Jews who practice Solomonic black magic occult mysticism. They worship the black cube of Saturn aka Satan or Lucifer not the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. They call upon their demonic generals to control situations and people. (emphasis mine)I just want to point out there are Jewish people who worship the Lord God almighty aka the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and there are non-practicing Jewish people looking for the meaning of life like most of humanity, and there are Jewish people who are called Messianic Jews because they believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and there are Jewish people who are Atheist, AND THEN there are those born Jewish but DO NOT worship the Lord God almighty aka the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob like those who practice Jewish Kabbalah mysticism esoteric black magic. They worship Lucifer aka Satan like the infamous Rothschild's who head the Illuminati, the famous occultist Nostradamus who wrote prophecies using a bowl of water called a "magic mirror" getting help "seeing" from the dark underworld, the famous master of darkness occultist Aleister Crowley, and Anton LaVey, creator of the Church of Satan and who wrote The Satanic Bible, etc. So please don't lump all Jewish people together. That is what the Kabbalist Jews in control of everything want. They make you believe they worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with their outward presence. It's all a pretense, beguiling the public. (emphasis mine)I would like to add that the Commie Jews and Transhumanist Jews DO NOT worship the God of the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible aka the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are ALL Luciferians. I just found out that Lenin and Stalin were Jewish Commie atheists. Why would this information be kept hidden from us? 8 million died during Commie Lenin's rule and 20 million died during Commie Stalin's rule. And according to a NYT article dated March 17, 1955, Stalin Called Himself a Zionist But Cited Soviet Jewish 'Problem'; He Told Roosevelt at Yalta Parley of Failure of Birobidzhan Settlement Plan --Picture of Red Leader Unfolded."WASHINGTON, March 16-- Premier Stalin told President Roosevelt at the Yalta conference that he himself was a Zionist in principle but that Soviet Jews had posed a difficult problem for him."So basically God fearing Jews were a problem for Stalin the God hating Jew. Commie WEF Klaus Schwab honors Commie Lenin with a statue of him on his office shelf behind his desk.Then you have those born Jewish but identify as God hating Transhumanists like WEF Klaus Schwab and Yuval Noah Hariri. They loathe God of the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible just like the rest of the Commie NWO globalists AND Illuminati Kabbalist Jews who are ALL Luciferians. (emphasis mine)
From King Jehoiakim’s life, we can learn that godly parentage does not necessarily guarantee godly children. Many times in Israel’s and Judah’s history, the Bible records that the children of good kings and prophets “did evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 21:1–2; 1 Samuel 8:3) and did not follow the paths of their fathers. God holds each individual responsible for his or her obedience to His direction (Deuteronomy 24:16). King Jehoiakim’s willful rejection of God’s Word and his subsequent fate are a perfect illustration of the folly of disobedience. “Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1).
I added the picture above to the message I shared with you below.
God Racing on the Crest of the Waves
[source: Biblegateway.com]
1-2 A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk, with orchestra:
God, I’ve heard what our ancestors say about you,
and I’m stopped in my tracks, down on my knees.
Do among us what you did among them.
Work among us as you worked among them.
And as you bring judgment, as you surely must,
remember mercy.
* * *
3-7 God’s on his way again,
retracing the old salvation route,
Coming up from the south through Teman,
the Holy One from Mount Paran.
Skies are blazing with his splendor,
his praises sounding through the earth,
His cloud-brightness like dawn, exploding, spreading,
forked-lightning shooting from his hand—
what power hidden in that fist!
Plague marches before him,
pestilence at his heels!
He stops. He shakes Earth.
He looks around. Nations tremble.
The age-old mountains fall to pieces;
ancient hills collapse like a spent balloon.
The paths God takes are older
than the oldest mountains and hills.
I saw everyone worried, in a panic:
Old wilderness adversaries,
Cushan and Midian, were terrified,
hoping he wouldn’t notice them.
* * *
8-16 God, is it River you’re mad at?
Angry at old River?
Were you raging at Sea when you rode
horse and chariot through to salvation?
You unfurled your bow
and let loose a volley of arrows.
You split Earth with rivers.
Mountains saw what was coming.
They twisted in pain.
Flood Waters poured in.
Ocean roared and reared huge waves.
Sun and Moon stopped in their tracks.
Your flashing arrows stopped them,
your lightning-strike spears impaled them.
Angry, you stomped through Earth.
Furious, you crushed the godless nations.
You were out to save your people,
to save your specially chosen people.
You beat the stuffing
out of King Wicked,
Stripped him naked
from head to toe,
Set his severed head on his own spear
and blew away his army.
Scattered they were to the four winds—
and ended up food for the sharks!
You galloped through the Sea on your horses,
racing on the crest of the waves.
When I heard it, my stomach did flips.
I stammered and stuttered.
My bones turned to water.
I staggered and stumbled.
I sit back and wait for Doomsday
to descend on our attackers.
* * *
17-19 Though the cherry trees don’t blossom
and the strawberries don’t ripen,
Though the apples are worm-eaten
and the wheat fields stunted,
Though the sheep pens are sheepless
and the cattle barns empty,
I’m singing joyful praise to God.
I’m turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God.
Counting on God’s Rule to prevail,
I take heart and gain strength.
I run like a deer.
I feel like I’m king of the mountain!
I added the picture above to the message I shared with you below.
(Habakkuk 3:17-19)
[source: GotQuestions.org]
ANSWER
Despite the questions the prophet Habakkuk had concerning the evil taking place during his time, he concludes his oracle with positive words of praise. Habakkuk expresses his faith in God in a hymn: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places” (Habakkuk 3:17-19).
How can we learn to trust God in this way? A closer look at these verses reveals some concepts that help us to trust God more.
First, Habakkuk commits to praising God regardless of external circumstances. The opening of his hymn delineates a catastrophe: 1) no fruit on the fig trees, 2) no grapes growing on the vines, 3) no olives, 4) no produce of any kind, 5) a lack of sheep, and 6) a lack of cattle. After this doleful description, the prophet says, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.”
Habakkuk’s joy was not dependent on physical blessings. Even if Habakkuk suffered extreme loss, he was determined to praise God. Habakkuk remembered God’s goodness in times past and concluded God was worthy of praise. The prophet might lack olives and grapes, but he would never be without God.
Second, Habakkuk praises God specifically for salvation: “I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” God not only could save; God is salvation. Interestingly, the title “God of my salvation” is used seven times in the Old Testament. Five of these are found in the Psalms (18:26; 25:5; 27:9; 51:14; 88:1), one in Habakkuk, and the other in Micah 7:7.
Third, Habakkuk recognizes the Lord as His strength: “GOD, the Lord, is my strength.” This statement is the central focus of Habakkuk’s hymn. The theme becomes apparent when the literary structure is diagrammed as follows:
A1 “I will . . .”
A2 “I will . . .”
X “GOD, the Lord, is my strength”
B1 “he makes . . .”
B2 “he makes . . .”
After two statements of the prophet’s determination come two mentions of what God will accomplish on his behalf. In between, we find “God, the Lord, is my strength.”
The truth of God’s present strength caused Habakkuk to trust God even during the most difficult times. Like Habakkuk, we can choose to praise God even in the face of desolation. Like Habakkuk, we can praise God for the salvation He provides in Jesus Christ. And, by seeing God as our source of strength, we, like Habakkuk, can trust God’s promises.
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