Habakkuk

Habakkuk


I.Distressed over sin (1:1-4)

Hab 1:1 ¶ The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.  O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

II.Depressed over Judgment (1:5-2:20)

     A. God is Eternal (1:12)

Ge 21:33; Ex 3:15; 15:18; De 32:40; 33:27; 1Ch 16:36; 29:10; Ne 9:5; Job 36:26; Ps 9:7; 33:11; 41:13; 55:19; 68:33; 90:1,2,4; 92:8; 93:2; 102:12,24-27; 104:31; 111:3; 135:13; 145:13; 146:10; Pr 8:23-25; Isa 26:4; 40:28; 41:4; 43:13; 44:6; 46:4; 48:12; 57:15; 63:16; Jer 10:10; 17:12; La 5:19; Da 4:3,34; Mic 5:2; Hab 1:12; 3:6; Ro 1:20; 16:26; Eph 3:21; 1Ti 1:17; 6:15,16; Heb 1:8; 9:14; 2Pe 3:8; 1Jo 2:13; Re 1:4,6; 4:8-10; 5:14; 10:6; 11:17; 15:7; 16:5

     B. God is Holy (1:13)   Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity:


Ex 3:5; 15:11; 24:9-11; Le 11:44; 19:2; 20:26; 21:8; De 32:4; Jos 5:15; 24:19; 1Sa 2:2; 6:20; 1Ch 16:10; Job 4:17-19; 6:10; 15:15; 25:5; 34:10; 36:23; Ps 11:7; 18:30; 22:3; 30:4; 33:4,5; 36:6; 47:8; 48:1,10; 60:6; 89:35; 92:15; 98:1; 99:3,5,9; 105:3; 108:7; 111:9; 119:142; 145:17; Pr 9:10; Isa 5:16; 6:3; 12:6; 29:19,23; 41:14; 43:14,15; 45:19; 47:4; 49:7; 52:10; 57:15; Jer 2:5; La 3:38; Eze 36:21,22; 39:7,25; Da 4:8; Ho 11:9; Hab 1:12,13; Mt 5:48; 19:17; Mr 10:18; Lu 1:49; 18:19; Joh 7:28; 17:11; Ro 1:23; Heb 1:8; Jas 1:13; 1Pe 1:15,16; 1Jo 1:5; 2:20; Re 4:8; 6:10; 15:4

     C. God is Righteous (1:13- 2)

Jg 5:11; Ezr 9:15; Job 36:3; Ps 5:8; 7:9; 48:10; 50:6; 71:15,19; 72:1; 88:12; 89:16; 97:2; 111:3; 112:4; 116:5; 119:40,137,142,144,172; 143:1; 145:7,17; Isa 41:10; 51:8; 56:1; Jer 4:2; 9:24; 12:1; La 3:34,36; Da 9:7; Ho 14:9; Mic 7:9; Mt 6:33; Joh 17:25; Ac 17:31; Ro 1:17; 3:4-6,21,22; 9:14; 10:3,4; 2Ti 4:8; 1Pe 2:23; 2Pe 1:1; 1Jo 2:1; Re 16:5

          1. Habakkuk needed to learn that comparing yourself with the wicked is not wise! (vs 1:13)

               comparing ourselves is not wise!(2Cor 10:12)

           2. Habakkuk needed to learn that God's ways are not man's ways. (1:13-17)

               all our righteousness is as filthy rags!(Is 64:6)

           3. Habakkuk needed to learn that Faith pleases God (2:4)

               without faith it is impossible to please God! (Heb 11:6)

           4. Habakkuk needed to learn that God's righteousness must be respected. (2:4-19)

               a. God knew exactly what the sins of the chaldeans were!

               b. The sins mentioned were much like the sins of God's people that initiated God's judgement.

                    i. The woe of covetousness cf (Is1:21-24)  9 Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!

                    ii. The woe of destroying human life (Jer 7:6)(Amos 4:1)(Micah 2:2) 12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!

                    iii. The woe of prompting Drunkenness (cf (Is 5:11, 22)(Is 28)  15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!

                    iv. The woe of Idolatry (Is 2:8)(Is 57:4)  19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

     D. God is Sovereign  20 But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

Ge 14:18-20,22; 24:3; Ex 8:22; 9:29; 15:18; 18:11; 19:5; Nu 27:16; De 2:19; 4:39; 10:14,17; 32:8,39,41-43; Jos 2:11; 3:11; 1Sa 2:6-8; 2Ki 19:15; 1Ch 29:11,12; 2Ch 20:6; Ne 9:6; Job 9:12; 12:9,10,16,17; 25:2; 33:13; 34:13,24,33; 36:1-33; 41:11; Ps 10:16; 22:28,29; 24:1,10; 29:10; 44:4; 47:2,3,7,8; 50:10-12; 59:13; 65:5; 66:7; 67:4; 74:12; 75:6,7; 76:11,12; 82:1,8; 83:18; 89:11,18; 93:1,2; 95:3-5; 96:10; 97:1,2,5,9; 98:6; 99:1; 103:19; 105:7; 113:4; 115:3,16; 135:5,6; 136:2,3; 145:11-13; 146:10; Ec 9:1; Isa 24:23; 33:22; 37:16; 40:22,23; 43:15; 44:6; 45:7,23; 52:7; 54:5; Jer 10:10; 18:1-23; 27:5-7; 32:27,28; La 3:37,38; 5:19; Eze 16:50; 17:24; 18:4; Da 2:20,21,47; 4:3,17,25,34,35,37; 5:18,26-28; 6:26; Mic 4:7,13; Hag 2:8; Mal 1:14; Mt 6:10,13; 11:25; 20:15; Lu 1:53; 10:21; Joh 10:29; 19:11; Ac 17:24-26; Ro 9:19; 14:11; 1Co 10:26; Eph 4:6; 1Ti 6:15,16; Heb 1:3; Jas 4:12; Re 1:6; 4:11; 11:4,13,17; 19:6

God met the need of his prophet!

III.Delivered by Faith(3)

     A. The Prayer of Faith (vs 1-2)

     B. The Remembrance of Faith (vs 3-15)

          1. God revealed himself to his people!

3 ¶ God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. 4 And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.

This refers to the visible display of the glory of God when he gave the law upon Mount Sinai, as appears by De 33:2 whence these expressions are borrowed. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai in a cloud (Ex 19:20) and his glory was as the devouring fire, not only to enforce the law he then gave them, but to avow the deliverance he had wrought for them and to magnify it; for the first word he said there was, "I am the Lord thy God, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt (MHC)

          2. God removed his people! (Ex 6-12)

Some think that this verse refers to God's deliverance of his people from Egypt (Ex 6-12)
         3. God rebuked his people (Num 14:12)

Others believe that it speaks of the judgment that God brought on his people in the wilderness wanderings

(Num 14:12)  5 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.

          4. God rewarded his people!

6 He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.

God gave them the land of the heathen for an inheritance.

Ex 3:8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

         5. God released his people!

7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

Hebrew expositors refer it to Chushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, or Syria, the first oppressor of Israel (Jg 3:8,10), from whom Othniel delivered them. Thus the second hemistich of the verse will refer to the deliverance of Israel from Midian by Gideon (Jg 6:1-7:25) to which Hab 3:11 plainly refers. Whichever of these views be correct, the general reference is to God's interpositions against Israel's foes of old. (JFB)

8 Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?

"Was the cause of His dividing the Red Sea and Jordan His displeasure against these waters?" The answer to this is tacitly implied in "Thy chariots of salvation." "Nay; it was not displeasure against the waters, but His pleasure in interposing for His people's salvation" (compare Hab 3:10). thy chariots--in antithesis to Thy foe, Pharaoh's chariots," which, notwithstanding their power and numbers, were engulfed in the waters of destruction. God can make the most unlikely means work for His people's salvation (Ex 14:7,9,23,25-28; 15:3-8,19). Jehovah's chariots are His angels (Ps 68:17), or the cherubim, or the ark (Jos 3:13; 4:7; compare Song 1:9). (JFB)

9 Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths (Ps 77:8)of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers(Ps 78:15-16). 10 The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. 11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear(Josh 10:10-13). 12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation(Ps 68:7), thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. 13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck(Ps 68:21). Selah. 14 Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. 15 Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.

No obstacle could prevent Thy progress when leading Thy people in safety to their inheritance, whether the Red Sea, Jordan, or the figurative waves of foes raging against Israel (JFB)

     C. The Joy of Faith (vs 16 – 19)

          1. Not according to emotion

16 ¶ When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself,

          2. Not according to circumstances

that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops. 17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

          3. Not according to human ingenuity

18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.

To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.