Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 205
IMMERSED IN HABAKKUK
H A B A K K U K L I V E D A R O U N D the same time as Nahum, in the period when
the Babylonian Empire was gaining ascendancy over the Assyrians.
We’re told nothing explicit about the prophet himself, but we do have
some intriguing clues about his identity.
The contents of the book of Habakkuk are presented in a unique
style, quite different from the other prophetic books. Rather than
bringing a message from God to the people, Habakkuk engages in
a dialogue with God. He also includes a song, complete with musical
notations. His opening complaint to God resembles the opening of a
lament psalm, a literary form used by God’s people, especially after the
Exile, to express deep sorrow.
As the book opens, Habakkuk is identified as a prophet. At that
time, the term prophet could be applied to certain Levites who served
in the Temple. They were responsible to “proclaim God’s messages
to the accompaniment of lyres, harps, and cymbals,” as Chronicles
puts it. Given the character of his compositions and his identifying
title, H
abakkuk may well have been one of the Temple musicians. We
get a further suggestion of this when he ends his dialogue with God
by accepting the difficult things he’s heard: “The Lord is in his holy
Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.” This could indicate the
prophet’s close ties to the Temple and that his messages were spoken
and r ecorded there.
Habakkuk begins by complaining that the people of Judah are using
their reprieve from Assyrian domination to engage in renewed injustice
and violence against the vulnerable. God responds that, as a consequence, he will soon allow the Babylonians to subjugate the kingdom
of Judah.
But Habakkuk protests that the Babylonians are just as cruel and
idolatrous as the Assyrians—and far worse than the people of Judah
whom God is about to judge. The prophet asks, “Should you be silent
while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they?” God
assures Habakkuk that the Babylonians themselves will be judged and
punished for their own sins in due time: “This vision is for a future time.
It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming,
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