The Book of Habakkuk
September 30, 2018
First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL
Christina Berry
The book of Habakkuk is the third in our series on the minor prophets. The book consists mainly of a dialogue between the prophet and God. Habakkuk begins with a lament, and then a complaint. God replies, but Habakkuk is not satisfied, and he continues to debate. The issue at hand is that of unexplained human suffering.
Habakkuk asks God “why?” and “how long?”
Why do the poor and lowly experience so much injustice and oppression?
How long will the righteous suffer?
Why isn’t God doing something to stop it, to change things, to bring justice?
In the midst of the debate, in chapter 2, there is a section that focuses on those who are causing such suffering. They plunder the poor and weak, and carry their wealth away. Their towns and homes are built on bloodshed; they encourage others to drunkenness and then take advantage of them.
The third chapter is a poetic hymn, a description of God appearing, as a warrior and as a fierce thunderstorm. For our purposes, we will focus on the debate and the hymn. Let’s listen to God’s word to us from chapters 1 and 3 of Habakkuk.
1:2-4 Habakkuk’s complaint:
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous—
therefore judgment comes forth perverted.
In verses 5-11, God responds.
Look at the nations, and see! Be astonished! Be astounded!
For a work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told. For I am rousing the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous nation, who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. Dread and fearsome are they; their justice and dignity proceed from themselves.
Their horses are swifter than leopards, more menacing than wolves at dusk; their horses charge. Their horsemen come from far away; they fly like an eagle swift to devour. They all come for violence, with faces pressing forward; they gather captives like sand. At kings they scoff, and of rulers they make sport. They laugh at every fortress, and heap up earth to take it. Then they sweep by like the wind; they transgress and become guilty; their own might is their god!
In 1:12-2:1 Habakkuk responds:
Are you not from of old, O Lord my God, my Holy One?
You shall not die. O Lord, you have marked them for judgment; and you, O Rock, have established them for punishment. Your eyes are too pure to behold evil, and you cannot look on wrongdoing; why do you look on the treacherous, and are silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they?
You have made people like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. The enemy brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net, he gathers them in his seine; so he rejoices and exults. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his seine; for by them his portion is lavish, and his food is rich. Is he then to keep on emptying his net, and destroying nations without mercy?
I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
2:2-4 God replies
Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.
2:5-20 begins a different type of prophetic writing. The section ends with this familiar verse:
But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him!
Chapter 3 begins with an inscription that is for worship:
A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk according to Shigionoth.
O Lord, I have heard of your renown, and I stand in awe, O Lord, of your work.
In our own time revive it; in our own time make it known;
in wrath may you remember mercy.
Then in 3:3-15 there is a poetic description of God
God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. The brightness was like the sun; rays came forth from his hand, where his power lay hidden. Before him went pestilence, and plague followed close behind. He stopped and shook the earth; he looked and made the nations tremble. The eternal mountains were shattered; along his ancient pathways the everlasting hills sank low. I saw the tents of Cushan under affliction; the tent-curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord? Or your anger against the rivers, or your rage against the sea, when you drove your horses, your chariots to victory? You brandished your naked bow, sated were the arrows at your command. You split the earth with rivers. The mountains saw you, and writhed; a torrent of water swept by; the deep gave forth its voice. The sun raised high its hands; the moon stood still in its exalted place, at the light of your arrows speeding by, at the gleam of your flashing spear. In fury you trod the earth, in anger you trampled nations. You came forth to save your people, to save your anointed.
You crushed the head of the wicked house, laying it bare from foundation to roof. You pierced with his own arrows the head of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter us, gloating as if ready to devour the poor who were in hiding. You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the mighty waters. I hear, and I tremble within; my lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones, and my steps tremble beneath me. I wait quietly for the day of calamity to come upon the people who attack us.
Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
and makes me tread upon the heights.
The chapter ends with the inscription
“To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.”
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Dr. Ford’s determined testimony.
Kavanaugh’s face twisted in rage and angry denial.
American Bar Association urges Senate to delay Kavanaugh vote.
Walgreens to pay $34.5 million to settle U.S. charges of misleading investors.
U.S. returns $505 million to victims of giant payday lending scheme
Uber to pay $148 million to settle data breach cover-up with U.S. states.
Bill Cosby sentenced to three to ten years in prison.
Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein heads to White House amid reports he will resign.
Scientists voice opposition to weakening of U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Hurricane Florence insured losses to range from $2.8 billion to $5 billion.[1]
A young man working to stop Chicago’s gun violence loses his life to it.[2]
Chicago shootings claim at least five lives over Labor Day weekend.[3]
2:2-4 God replies
Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.
2:5-20 begins a different type of prophetic writing. The section ends with this familiar verse:
But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him!
Chapter 3 begins with an inscription that is for worship:
A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk according to Shigionoth.
O Lord, I have heard of your renown, and I stand in awe, O Lord, of your work.
In our own time revive it; in our own time make it known;
in wrath may you remember mercy.
Then in 3:3-15 there is a poetic description of God
God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. The brightness was like the sun; rays came forth from his hand, where his power lay hidden. Before him went pestilence, and plague followed close behind. He stopped and shook the earth; he looked and made the nations tremble. The eternal mountains were shattered; along his ancient pathways the everlasting hills sank low. I saw the tents of Cushan under affliction; the tent-curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord? Or your anger against the rivers, or your rage against the sea, when you drove your horses, your chariots to victory? You brandished your naked bow, sated were the arrows at your command. You split the earth with rivers. The mountains saw you, and writhed; a torrent of water swept by; the deep gave forth its voice. The sun raised high its hands; the moon stood still in its exalted place, at the light of your arrows speeding by, at the gleam of your flashing spear. In fury you trod the earth, in anger you trampled nations. You came forth to save your people, to save your anointed.
You crushed the head of the wicked house, laying it bare from foundation to roof. You pierced with his own arrows the head of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter us, gloating as if ready to devour the poor who were in hiding. You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the mighty waters. I hear, and I tremble within; my lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones, and my steps tremble beneath me. I wait quietly for the day of calamity to come upon the people who attack us.
Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
and makes me tread upon the heights.
The chapter ends with the inscription
“To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.”
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Dr. Ford’s determined testimony.
Kavanaugh’s face twisted in rage and angry denial.
American Bar Association urges Senate to delay Kavanaugh vote.
Walgreens to pay $34.5 million to settle U.S. charges of misleading investors.
U.S. returns $505 million to victims of giant payday lending scheme
Uber to pay $148 million to settle data breach cover-up with U.S. states.
Bill Cosby sentenced to three to ten years in prison.
Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein heads to White House amid reports he will resign.
Scientists voice opposition to weakening of U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Hurricane Florence insured losses to range from $2.8 billion to $5 billion.[1]
A young man working to stop Chicago’s gun violence loses his life to it.[2]
Chicago shootings claim at least five lives over Labor Day weekend.[3]
These are news headlines from this past month. Even though Habakkuk was a prophet in Judea more than 2500 years ago, it would be easy for us to echo his questions.
How long, God? Why?
We might not use Habakkuk’s language, but we have the same question:
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?
Probably we’d sound more like the contemporary Bible translation, The Message:
“God, how long do I have to cry out for help before you listen?
How many times do I have to yell, “Help! Murder! Police!” before you come to the rescue?
Why do you force me to look at evil, stare trouble in the face day after day?
Anarchy and violence break out, quarrels and fights all over the place.
Law and order fall to pieces.
How long, God? Why?
We might not use Habakkuk’s language, but we have the same question:
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?
Probably we’d sound more like the contemporary Bible translation, The Message:
“God, how long do I have to cry out for help before you listen?
How many times do I have to yell, “Help! Murder! Police!” before you come to the rescue?
Why do you force me to look at evil, stare trouble in the face day after day?
Anarchy and violence break out, quarrels and fights all over the place.
Law and order fall to pieces.
Justice is a joke.
The wicked have the righteous hamstrung and stand justice on its head.”
Habakkuk wanted answers.
But the answers were not forthcoming.
It was as if God had turned away, gone silent, left town, quit the job!
Then God does answer: “You think your government is corrupt?
The wicked have the righteous hamstrung and stand justice on its head.”
Habakkuk wanted answers.
But the answers were not forthcoming.
It was as if God had turned away, gone silent, left town, quit the job!
Then God does answer: “You think your government is corrupt?
You think things are bad now?
Wait until you see what the Chaldeans are going to do to you.
“Their horses run like the wind, attack like bloodthirsty wolves.
A stampede of galloping horses thunders out of nowhere.
They descend like vultures, circling in on carrion. They’re out to kill.”
Not exactly the answers Habakkuk was hoping for. But the ancient prophets took a different view of their work than we modern believers. They were bold to ask their questions, but they held fast to their faith even in the face of God’s silence. In this day and age, we tend to question our faith during difficult times, and we expect God to answer for it.
C. S. Lewis said: “The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man, the roles are quite reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge; if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that man is on the bench and God is in the dock.”[4]
But that is not Habakkuk.
He may be a minor prophet, in a minor key, but he is not giving up.
He is determined to come to terms with his circumstances
without losing his firm grip on his faith in the God of Israel.
Surely, God will answer.
Surely, God will deliver!
“What’s God going to say to my questions? I’m braced for the worst.
I’ll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon.
I’ll wait to see what God says, how he’ll answer my complaint.”
“Their horses run like the wind, attack like bloodthirsty wolves.
A stampede of galloping horses thunders out of nowhere.
They descend like vultures, circling in on carrion. They’re out to kill.”
Not exactly the answers Habakkuk was hoping for. But the ancient prophets took a different view of their work than we modern believers. They were bold to ask their questions, but they held fast to their faith even in the face of God’s silence. In this day and age, we tend to question our faith during difficult times, and we expect God to answer for it.
C. S. Lewis said: “The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man, the roles are quite reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge; if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that man is on the bench and God is in the dock.”[4]
But that is not Habakkuk.
He may be a minor prophet, in a minor key, but he is not giving up.
He is determined to come to terms with his circumstances
without losing his firm grip on his faith in the God of Israel.
Surely, God will answer.
Surely, God will deliver!
“What’s God going to say to my questions? I’m braced for the worst.
I’ll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon.
I’ll wait to see what God says, how he’ll answer my complaint.”
God does answer: “Write out this vision. Make it so big that it can be read by someone running past. Put it up on a billboard. Wait for God’s work. Those who are just, those who are righteous, will live by faith.”
The vision is there – God’s vision is there, and it will come in God’s time.
Meanwhile, live by faith.
Meanwhile, do not give up.
That’s where Habakkuk arrives, eventually.
He looks around him, but he does not despair.
He holds fast to his faith.
He will not give in to hopelessness.
He will rely on God’s promise, trusting that it will come to fruition.
God is not on trial here, though we may wish to prosecute.
It is our faith that hangs in the balance, to be weighed and judged.
The promise is true, and it is embodied in the message of Jesus:
“a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie.”
The promised Messiah invites us to follow, and to come and walk in truth.
Jesus calls us to faithfulness even when the day looks bleak.
Are we faithful only when the birds are singing and the sun is shining?
If we are committed to love like Jesus loves,
do we limit that love to our favorite people?
As we wait for God’s time, for the vision to come real, we are obliged to continue to live with justice and mercy. The poet Wendell Berry sees the world in the same minor key as the prophet Habakkuk. He writes:
“When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns….
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.”[5]
Friends, God is at work in the world.
The message of Jesus is louder than all the horrid headlines.
God’s song of love and hope is ringing out
over the cacophony of misery composed by violence and greed.
Even if your song is in a minor key, sing it with all your heart:
God, the Lord, is your strength;
God makes your feet like the feet of a deer,
and makes you tread upon the heights.
God makes your feet like the feet of a deer,
and makes you tread upon the heights.
The music rings out from a lonely hill, where love suffered and died.
The melody echoes in an empty tomb, a symphony of hope.
Sing your song of resurrection;
make your hands busy playing your own composition of healing.
You know the words – they bind up the broken-hearted,
and speak comfort to the captives.
They call the hungry to dinner and ring the bell of freedom.
Sing that song, and instruct the choirmaster
to accompany you with stringed instruments, with a full orchestra.
Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts.
Amen.
[1] Reuters.com news archive – headlines for week of September 23.
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/us/chicago-shooting-anti-gun-volunteer.html
[3] http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/09/03/chicago-shootings-claim-at-least-5-lives-over-labor-day-weekend.html
[4] C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics
[5] Berry, Wendell (no relation to me!) Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
The melody echoes in an empty tomb, a symphony of hope.
Sing your song of resurrection;
make your hands busy playing your own composition of healing.
You know the words – they bind up the broken-hearted,
and speak comfort to the captives.
They call the hungry to dinner and ring the bell of freedom.
Sing that song, and instruct the choirmaster
to accompany you with stringed instruments, with a full orchestra.
Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts.
Amen.
[1] Reuters.com news archive – headlines for week of September 23.
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/us/chicago-shooting-anti-gun-volunteer.html
[3] http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/09/03/chicago-shootings-claim-at-least-5-lives-over-labor-day-weekend.html
[4] C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics
[5] Berry, Wendell (no relation to me!) Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
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