Scripture Reading: Hab. 2:5-20; 3:1-19
In this message we will continue to consider the second dialogue between the prophet and Jehovah and then go on to consider the prophet’s song to Jehovah.
After the prophet’s inquiry of Jehovah (1:12—2:1), Jehovah answered Habakkuk (2:2-20), revealing His judgment upon the Chaldeans (vv. 5-20). In His answer to the prophet, Jehovah spoke concerning the five woes to the Chaldeans.
First, because the Chaldeans had plundered many nations, the Chaldeans would be plundered and made booty to the nations (vv. 5-8). After just over seventy years, God recompensed Babylon. While the king, Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson, was feasting in his palace using the utensils from God’s temple, he saw the vision of the writing on the wall (Dan. 5). In that same night, Darius the Mede defeated Babylon and killed the king.
Second, Jehovah judged the Chaldeans because of their taking evil gain for their houses by violence, sinning against their own soul (vv. 9-10). As a result of this judgment, the stone would cry out from the wall of their houses and the rafter would answer from the timber of the houses (v. 11).
Third, the Chaldeans would receive the righteous recompense for building cities by bloodshed and establishing towns by iniquity (v. 12). It was of Jehovah that the peoples toiled for vanity and that the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah as the water covers the sea (vv. 13-14). This is mysterious. While all these things are taking place, something particular, something mysterious would be happening on earth — the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah.
Fourth, because the Chaldeans made their neighbor drunken with poison in order to look at their nakedness and did violence, destruction, and bloodshed to their cities, they would be sated with shame, with the cup of Jehovah’s right hand and with disgrace upon their glory (vv. 15-17).
Fifth, the Chaldeans made the graven idol, the molten idol, and the dumb idols and said to them, “Awake!” and “Arise!” Therefore, they would be cheated by the idols and gain no profit (vv. 18-19). Verse 20 concludes, “Jehovah is in His holy temple: / Be silent before Him, all the earth!”
Habakkuk 3:1-19 is the prophet’s song to Jehovah.
First, we have the prophet’s song in prayer (vv. 1-2). In his prayer he asked Jehovah to revive His work in those years (vv. 1-2a), and he asked Him to make it known in those years that He will remember compassion in wrath.
In lauding, the prophet praised God in His majesty and splendor (vv. 3-4), in His terrifying judgment on the nations (vv. 5-12), and in His salvation of His people and of His anointed one (vv. 13-15).
In verses 16 through 19 the prophet declares his trust in Jehovah.
Verse 16a says that the prophet, after hearing the voice of Jehovah, trembled in his place, with his lips quivering at the sound and rottenness entering his bones. Habakkuk’s writing here is quite poetic.
In verse 16b the prophet went on to say that he had to wait quietly for the day of distress, when the Chaldeans, the ones attacking (or invading) Israel, would come up against the people.
“For the fig tree will not sprout, / And there will be no yield on the vines; / The labor on the olive tree will fail, / And the fields will make no food; / The flock will be cut off from the fold, / And there will be no herd in the stalls. / Yet I will exult in Jehovah; / I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. / Jehovah the Lord is my strength; / And He makes my feet like hinds’ feet / And will cause me to walk on my high places” (vv. 17-19a). These verses indicate that in a dark time, a time when there was nothing, Habakkuk trusted in Jehovah.
All these verses seem very good, but for the most part they express Habakkuk’s natural concept, without much revelation of Christ. Even Habakkuk’s concept of trusting in Jehovah during a time of need was natural. There is no comparison between these verses and Paul’s writings. Paul’s concept was different. When he was troubled, he prayed three times, but the Lord told him that He would not remove the thorn and that His grace was sufficient for him (2 Cor. 12:7-10). When Paul was short of food, he did not “trust” in the Lord in the way Habakkuk did; rather, he took the opportunity to fast. In a very real sense, he did not need to trust in the Lord, for he was in the Lord already, and the Lord was in him. Furthermore, instead of trying to keep the law, he lived Christ (Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:21a).
Whereas many Christians appreciate verses such as Habakkuk 3:17-19a, we need to be brought into another realm, the realm of Christ. These verses are not according to the divine revelation concerning Christ but according to the prophet’s natural, human, and religious concept. If we are brought into the realm of Christ, we will not appreciate the natural, religious thought expressed in much of the Old Testament. Rather, we will treasure the divine revelation in the Word. Moreover, instead of “trusting” in the Lord like Habakkuk did, we will see that the crucial matter is not trusting but realizing that we are in Christ and that Christ is in us.
In our reading of the book of Habakkuk, we should not appreciate those things that fit in with our natural, religious concept but are not according to the divine revelation. This is why I emphasize the fact that the one matter we need to treasure in Habakkuk is found in 2:4b — the righteous shall have life and live by faith.
More than sixty years ago I read something by Brother Nee which said that it is wrong to pray and ask the Lord to help us. At that time I did not understand what he meant. However, I have learned from experience that the only prayer that gives me joy is this: “Praise You, Lord. You are one with me. Regardless of how weak and poor I am, I am in You and You are in me.” But suppose I pray, “Lord, I still need Your help. I am weak and poor, and I have nothing. I ask You to come in to help me.” If I were to pray in this way, the joy would be gone.
Concerning prayer, we should take Paul as our example, not Habakkuk. Paul did not pray for common things. On the contrary, he prayed that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him” (Eph. 1:17). We all need to have our view uplifted.
The last part of verse 19 says that the song of the prophet is for the choir director, with the prophet’s stringed instrument.
