Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Habakkuk 1:1-2:20

Theme: God’s sovereignty can be perplexing.

Date: 12/4/16 MinorProphets_13.wpd

ID Number: 229

Like many of the minor prophets, Habakkuk is brief, consisting of only three chapters, and 56 verses.

Everything we know about him personally is found in verse one of chapter 1 — his name, Habakkuk, and his office, that of profit.

Historically, we know a few more things.

The book was written in approximately 609 BC.

By Habakkuk’s day, the Northern Kingdom had fallen to a Syria a little over 100 years earlier.

Although the Southern Kingdom — Judah — survived, it remained a vassal state in till Nineveh fell to the Babylonians.

The Habakkuk describes the Babylonians as a formidable enemy (1:6-10).

This would mean that Nineveh had fallen — which happened in 612 BC — just as the prophet Nahum had prophesied.

Babylon is now a Mideast power, but Habakkuk wrote before the Babylonians first invasion of Judah since that event is spoken of as future, but immanent.

That makes Habakkuk a contemporary of the prophets Nahum, Jeremiah, and Zephaniah.

The prophecy of Habakkuk is unique because the Prophet did not speak for God to the people of Judah, but rather spoke to God about the people of Judah.

There are some interesting traditions surrounding the prophet.

Because the third chapter appears to be the lyrics of a Hebrew song, similar to a Psalm, the Jewish rabbis assumed that he was a member of the tribe of Levi, which served as musicians in Solomon’s Temple.

A non-biblical tradition a bout the prophet comes to us from the non-canonical, apocryphal book Bel and the Dragon.

The story goes that Habakkuk is in Judea and after making some stew, he's told by the angel of the Lord to take the stew to Daniel, who is in Babylon in the lion's den.

After proclaiming he is unaware of both the den and Babylon, the angel transports Habakkuk to the lion's den.

Habakkuk gives Daniel the food to sustain him, and is immediately taken back to his own place.

The first tradition is a possibility the second one, obviously, is not.

The prophet is among several minor prophets well known to Christians because the apostle Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4 — “the righteous shall live by faith” — in two places: Romans 1:17, and Galatians 3:11.

That statement became one of the “five sola” of the Protestant Reformation — Sola Fide – and thus a so-called “minor prophet” had a major influence on later generations.

Tonight I want us to see how Habakkuk grapples with two mysteries of the faith,1) why does God allow evil to go unpunished in Judah? and 2) how could a righteous God use Babylon to judge sin in Judah since Babylon is far more wicked than Judah ever was?

I. FAITH IN GOD’S ULTIMATE JUSTICE Habakkuk 1:12

1. during the early part of habakkuk’s life there had been a great revival under King Josiah

ILLUS.

In the 18th year of Josiah’s reign he ordered the High Priest Hilkiah to use the tax money which had been collected over the years to renovate the temple.

It was during this time that Hilkiah discovered the Book of the Law.

While Hilkiah was clearing the treasure room of the Temple he discovered a scroll described as "The Book of the Law".

An assembly of the elders of Judah and Jerusalem and of all the people was called, and Josiah then encouraged the exclusive worship of Yahweh, forbidding all other forms of worship.

The instruments and emblems of the worship of Baal and "the host of heaven,"were removed from the Jerusalem Temple.

a. part of the result of this revival were significant spiritual reforms set in motion by Josiah

1) this included forbidding all other forms of worship, removing the emblems of Baal from the Jewish Temple, destroying all the High Places that had been set up around the nation to worship other gods and reinstituting the Passover celebration

2) all of this can be found in 2 Kings 22-23, and 2 Chronicles 34-35

2. when Josiah became king of Judah in about 641/640 BC, the international situation was in flux

a. the Assyrian Empire was beginning to disintegrate, and the Neo-Babylonian Empire had not yet risen to replace it

b.

Egypt to the west was still recovering from Assyrian rule

c. in this power vacuum, Jerusalem was able to govern itself for the time being without foreign intervention

1) things were looking pretty good for Judah

3. however, Josiah died in 609 BC, and the reforms he had established quickly went by the wayside

a. Spiritual decline quickly said in an Judah reverted back to ungodly, worldly ways

4. it’s against this background that we must understand the two questions raised by the prophet

A. THE PROPHET’S 1ST COMPLAINT — How Can God Permit Evil to Flourish in Judah?

“How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!”

but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice?

Why do you tolerate wrong?

Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.

4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails.

The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.”

(Habakkuk 1:2–4, NIV84)

1. Habakkuk simply cannot understand how a holy God could permit wickedness to flourish among his people

a.

The prophet begins his complaint with “how long O Lord?”

1) it’s a phrase that occurs 65 times in the Old Testament, and expresses anguish, and confusion over God’s perceived delay in administering justice

2) we read of similar laments in the Psalms

“How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me? 3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;” (Psalm 13:1–3, NIV84)

2. Habakkuk is deeply concerned that God seems to be oblivious to the evil that is taking place in Judah

a. in the first half of vs. 2 he accuses God of failing to hear his cry for help — “How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?”

b.

In the second half of vs. 2 he accuses God of idly standing by while evil flourishes in the land — “Or cry out to you, “Violence!”

but you do not save?”

3. in vs. 3 the prophet uses five words to describe the breakdown of social conditions in Judah

a. Injustice — it’s a word that means trouble, or sorrow that inevitably leads to trouble and hardship

b.

Wrong — is a word that suggests suffering due to missed treatment

1) class warfare is raging among the citizenry with the wealthy taking advantage of the poor particularly in the courts

ILLUS.

we see an example of this in the story of King Ahab and Jezebel.

A man by the name of Naboth owns a vineyard near the royal palace in the city of Jezreel.

Wishing to acquire Naboth's vineyard so that he could expand his own gardens, Ahab offered to purchase Naboth's vineyard or to give him a better one in exchange, but Naboth refused, saying he could not part with ancestral land.

When Jezebel saw that her husband was depressed by this, she arranged for the elders to falsely accuse Naboth of blasphemy and stone him to death.

The plan was put in motion and Naboth was murdered.

And if you know the rest of the story, you know things did not turn out so well for Ahab and Jezebel.

But what they did is an example of the way that the rich were exploiting the poor in that day.

c.

Destruction — evildoers were destroying the righteous and undermining Judean society

d.

Violence — that is self defining and needs no real commentary

e. Strife, and Conflict — when a society’s values begin to break down, strife and conflict result

4. In vs. 4 a second result of the rampant evil in Judah was the breakdown of the legal system

a.

Old Testament commentators say one of three, perhaps all three situations prevailed in Israel’s legal system

1) 1st, the courts had become overwhelmed with the sheer number of lawsuits

2) 2nd, the law had become paralyzed because the judges were not following Israel’s law code in administering justice

3) 3rd, judges were rendering unjust decisions, probably because they were being bribed by the wealthy

b. any one of those three items can reason for injustice, and all three are a recipe for judicial disaster

B. GOD’S FIRST RESPONSE

1. King Josiah is dead, and King Jehoiakim is on the throne, and wickedness has gained the upper hand

a. God’s people should never be surprised how quickly things can change in society

b. the events taking place in Judah illustrate the imperative of godly political leadership, and the necessity of believers participating in the political process

2. while Habakkuk seems to think that God has been asleep on the job, God is going to make clear that he is seeing all that is going on and He will intervene

a. as a matter fact, God is going to act so decisively that Habakkuk and his countrymen will be shocked

3. when the prophet learns of god’s intentions, he is stunned