2005 Bible Reading

This page is not a commentary, nor an outline. It is something to bear in mind in this kind of reading. These materials I learnt from two books by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart (How to Read the Bible for All Its worth; How to Read the Bible Book By Book). You could consult these books if you are interested.

Pastor Raymond

Habakkuk

Many of us have heard of the statement "The just shall live by faith." Even if we have not, we might have heard of some rather pessimistic expression like, "though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vine" (3:17). Both of them are from this short 3-chapter book, the 8^th in the Book of the Twelve. The way Habakkuk puts it, faith appears to shine the brightest in adversities.

The thought flow of Habakkuk is relatively easy to follow. The first two chapters record the complaint lodged by the prophet to God. Chapter 3 is the final response of the prophet in the form of a prayer, reiterating the importance of faith in God. What was the subject of the complaint? It was the blatant injustice of the nation of Judah (1:2-4) and the more puzzling employment of an even more unjust Babylon to execute the judgment against Judah (1:5-11)! But God was to tell the prophet to wait and trust Him (2:2-4) because the proud would ultimately be brought to judgment (2:4-20). Chapter 3 then uses the wording of exodus to express the joy brought about by faith.

The historical background of this book could be located in 2 Kings 22-23 and 2 Chronicles 34:1-36:4. Babylon was still not a superpower (1:6). That makes Habakkuk a contemporary of Zephaniah, Nahum and Jeremiah.

The theological center of this book revolves around the character of Yahweh. There is no oracle in this book, but through the dialogue between the prophet, the people debated with Yahweh. This is similar to the psalmist wrestling with God in the form of a lament song, trying to make sense out of the seeming inconsistency between predicaments in life and the righteous kindness of God (see Psalm 10 and 13). In the end, the righteousness and faithfulness of God remain the best guarantee of any answer the complainant could find. In this regard, three matters should be noted.

First, God is just and it would be demonstrated at the proper time (2:2-5). His justice is the kind that is "a tooth for a tooth; an eye for an eye"(lex talionis). In the section of 2:6-20, there are five colorful descriptions that paint this point clearly: the plunderers would be plundered (2:6-8); the proud conquerors would be shamed (2:9-11); the house of the builder would be turned into fuel (2:12-14); those who made people drunk would be intoxicated with the wrath of Yahweh, and the idols who had mouth but could not speak would all be quiet in Yahweh's presence (2:18-20). How precise and humorous!

Second, the faithfulness of God is not a wishful thinking on the part of the people, but rather is an indelible fact etched in the history of the Israel people. The image of the divine warrior used in Chapter 3 is derived exactly from the song of Moses that talked about the Exodus deliverance. Although reading Chapter 3 for the first time would be confusing because of its poetic form, it would bring more coherence if we could notice in 3:3-15 the collage of the following victorious images (over Pharaoh of Egypt): God reigned above the turmoil of the sea; He stopped the sun for Joshua; He descended on Mt Sinai; and the exodus from Egypt. God's faithfulness forms the foundation of the tomorrows of the righteous, and serves also as the iron-clad guarantee of His definite righteous deliverance. No wonder there are literary signs at the beginning and end of Chapter 3 suggesting that this prayer should best be sung in the assembly. It is also no surprise, therefore, that Paul sees the atonement of Jesus Christ as the place where God's righteousness is publicly demonstrated (Romans 3:21-22).