Bible Reading: Habakkuk

In the Book of Revelation (Book of Apocalypse) St. John describes how there were twenty four elders sitting around God's throne:

Immediately I was in the spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne One was sitting (Apocalypse 4:2).

Some people like to speculate who the twenty four elders might be. I'll tell you who one of them is; don't ask how I know because I'll just reply that I'm connected ha ha.

One of the twenty four is the prophet Habakkuk (also spelled Habacuc.) His name means "the embraced one" in Hebrew. He has a short book in the Old Testament that is wondrous and amazing beyond its three page length. There are few books so pertinent to modern times as this one.

He lived as the Assyrians were falling and Babylon was rising, and was in the process of conquering Israel. There was a lot of terror associated with the rise of Babylon and horrible attacks upon Israel, and instead of holding faster to their faith, Israel had fallen back into idol worship and petty political intrigues. In the first chapter Habakkur calls upon the Lord to question him why this is going on. Think about it; this is the first occurrence in Biblical literature that a prophet basically "places a call to God" rather than waiting to receive information, to question God about what is happening to Israel, and even to challenge him a bit. The first chapter consists of his call to God and his telling God what is happening and question him as to why.

The second chapter opens with one of the most moving images in the Bible. After posing his questions to God this grand older man climbs to a tower on the ramparts of his city and waits for a reply from God:

I will stand at my guard post, and station myself upon the rampart, and keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what answer he will give to my complaint (Habacuc 2:1).

To really get the flavor of the original Hebrew, read the Amplified Bible's expansion of this passage, to provide the nuance of feeling and attitude implicit in the original phraseology:

[Oh I know, I have been rash to talk out plainly this way to God!] I will [in my thinking] stand upon my post of observation and station myself on the tower or fortress, and will watch to see what He will say within me and what answer I will make [as His mouthpiece] to the perplexities of my complaint against Him (Habakkuk 2:1).

By these words he wrote, those who read Habakkuk can share in the experience of him. He was a man who actually called himself to prophecy when the people were in need. He did not wait around to see if he'd be chosen; he actually was driven through desperation and his enormous faith to approach God and volunteer, even demand, to be God's prophet, as hard as that lot can be. His opening words underscore this, especially in the Amplified Bible nuancing:

The oracle which Habacuc the prophet received in vision (Habacuc 1:1).

The burden or oracle (the thing to be lifted up) which Habakkuk the prophet saw (Habakkuk 1:1).

Unlike what modern new age fortune tellers think, true prophecy is the carrying of the burden of God's word and will, which consists much more of the answer to "Why?" than the question "What will happen in the future?" and even less so "What is in the future for me and my gain?" Habakkuk was watching the desperation of Juda as it was being terrorized under Nabuchodonosor's invasion, and it only fell more and more into it's own political intrigue and idolatry. It sounds very, very much like the world today as it ponders terrorism, yet becomes even more faithless, rather than strengthening the dialogue with God.

Chapters 2 is God's reply to Habakkuk. This great man's faith is answered directly by God (as God does speak directly and not through cryptograms and gamester word smithing):

The the Lord answered me and said: Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; if it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late (Habacuc 2:2).

God addresses the problem of idolatry very directly:

Woe to him who says to wood, "Awake!" to dumb stone, "Arise!" Can such a thing give oracles? See, it is overlaid with gold and silver, but there is no life breath in it. Of what avail is the carved image, that its maker should carve it? Or the molten image and lying oracle, that its very maker should trust in it, and make dumb idols? But the Lord is in his holy temple; silence before him, all the earth! (Habacuc 2:19-20).

I like also the Amplified Bible nuance, which makes some of the imagery that God uses even clearer:

Woe to him who says to the wooden image, Awake! and to the dumb stone, Arise, teach! [Yet it cannot, for] behold, it is laid over with gold and silver and there is no breath at all inside it! But the Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth hush and keep silence before Him (Habakkuk 2: 19-20).

LL Cool J was not the first to sing about someone talking too much in his song "Hush." God points out in slow careful speech for dummies why worshiping idols and expecting them to teach is pointless, and that all the jabbering simply prevents people from listening to God in silence, open to the Holy Spirit's teaching. Idolatry and jabbering also does not solve the problem of the ravening army of Babylon.

Chapter 3 is a canticle written by Habakkuk (a canticle being a prayer set to music.) In it Habakkuk recognizes the terrible power of God's allowing Babylon to ravage and chastise Israel, for God has made it clear that he will not divinely intervene, especially as Israel had turned to politics and idolatry. (During this time Israel sought pagan political alliances, shedding much of their faith, which is their primary gift from God.) The final line of this chapter summarizes Habakkuk's understanding of where he and others must draw their strength and understanding from:

I hear, and my body trembles; at the sound, my lips quiver. Decay invades my bones, my legs tremble beneath me. I await the day of distress that will come upon the people who attack us. For though the fig tree blossom not nor fruit be on the vines, though the yield of the olive fail, and the terraces produce no nourishment, though the flocks disappear from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet will I rejoice in the Lord and exult in my saving God. God, my Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet swift as those of hinds and enables me to go upon the heights (Habacuc 3:16-18).

That last phrase is nicely expanded in the AB as follows:

The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds' feet and will make me to walk [not to stand in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]! (Habakkuk 3:18).

By the way for those of you who immaturely giggle whenever you see words like "hind," "rear," "throne," "ass," or "but," the word "hind" refers to a female deer, a doe, and is not Jewish Old Testament slang for butt.

Habakkuk called upon God to be his prophet, received a most direct reply, and explains that with God, and not idols or politics, as his strength, he can not only spiritually rise above the hardship of war, but also take up his practical responsibility for dealing with conflict generated by humankind in their sinfulness.