Habakkuk--The Just Will Live By Faith

Many years ago, Rev. Ralph Stockman said, "The hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable."

Some have also claimed that the hinge of history is found in one verse in the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk. We will see why in a few moments... 

Author

 

Little is known about Habakkuk as a person. He is not mentioned in any other book of the Bible outside this one that bears his name. Traditionally it was thought that Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah. There is also a legendary account of Habakkuk ministering to the needs of Daniel in the lions’ den in the Apocryphal book Bel and the Dragon.

 

Date

 

The presumed setting for this book is after the rise of Babylon as a world power in 612 BCE. The prophecy may have been written down a little before or after the battle of Carchemish in 605 BCE, when Egyptian forces, who had earlier gone to the aid of the last Assyrian king, were routed by the Babylonians under Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar and were pursued as far as the Egyptian border. (See Jeremiah 46.) Habakkuk, like Jeremiah, may have lived to see the initial fulfillment of his prophecy when Jerusalem was attacked by the Babylonians in 597.

 

Themes

 

Among the prophetic writings, Habakkuk is somewhat unique in that it includes no oracle addressed to God’s people in Judah. It contains, rather, a dialogue between the prophet and God. The book of Jonah is similar in a way, though Jonah contains more of a narrative. In another way, the book of Habakkuk, especially the third chapter, is like the Psalms, in that it contains, mainly, the words of a human being to God.

 

In the first two chapters, Habakkuk argues with God over God’s ways which appear to the prophet unfathomable, if not unjust. Having received replies, Habakkuk responds with a beautiful confession of faith in chapter three, the chapter which is most like a psalm or a prayer.

This account of wrestling with God is, however, not just a fragment from a private journal that has somehow entered the public domain. The “prophecy” is obviously composed for the benefit of God’s people in Judah. Habakkuk represents the voice of the godly in Judah who are struggling to comprehend the ways of God. God’s answers speak to all who share Habakkuk’s troubled doubts. Habakkuk’s confession thus serves as a public expression suitable for liturgical use.

 

Habakkuk was perplexed that wickedness, strife and oppression were rampant in Judah and God seemingly was doing nothing about it. When told that the Lord is preparing to do something through the “ruthless” Babylonians (1:6), Habakkuk’s perplexity only intensifies. How can God, who is “too pure to look on evil” (1:13), appoint such an empire as Babylon “to execute judgment” (1:12) on a people “more righteous than themselves” (1:13)?

 

God makes it clear to Habakkuk that he will eventually destroy the corrupt destroyer. In the end, Habakkuk learns to rest in God’s appointments and await God’s working in a spirit of worship.

 

It has been said that our disappointment is God’s appointment. In other words, in the very place where we experience disappointment, God can meet us and bring something good out of evil. As Paul says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

 

Habakkuk writes clearly and with great feeling. In these three short chapters are many memorable phrases. (See 2:2,4,14,20; 3:2,17-19.) 

 

The book was popular during the intertestamental period. A long commentary (pesher) on the first two chapters of Habakkuk was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. This commentary understands Habakkuk as being actualized in the author’s own day, centuries after the book of Habakkuk was written. Specifically, the author of this commentary identifies the Chaldeans (Babylonians) with the Kittim (Romans), and the unjust of Judah are none other than the foes of the Qumran community, the Pharisees. This Dead Sea Scroll commentary demonstrates how prophetic works were read and studied within a Jewish group that lived in the late Maccabean period. The Qumran community understood Habakkuk as having a message for them, not just a report of something that happened in the distant past.

 

Structure

1. Title (1:1)
2. Habakkuk’s First Complaint (1:2-4)
3. God’s Answer (1:5-11)
4. Habakkuk’s Second Complaint (1:12-17)
5. God’s Answer (2:1-20)
6. Habakkuk’s Prayer (Chapter 3)

 

Key Concept—The Just Will Live by Faith

 

I would like to spend the rest of our time this morning focused on one verse, Habakkuk 2:4 which reads, “But the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.”

 

Why focus on this one half-sentence, what amounts to three words in Hebrew? Because these three words are that important. The Jewish Talmud records a remark made by Rabbi Simlai: 

 

Moses gave Israel 613 commandments. David reduced them to eleven [see Ps. 15], Micah to three [Mi. 6:8], Isaiah to two [see Is. 56:1], but Habakkuk to one: “the righteous shall live by his faith”. Jewish scholars felt that these three Hebrew words fairly summarized the message of the whole Bible.[1]

Habakkuk 2:4 has not only been an important text for Jews down through history, but also an important text for at least two writers of the New Testament. This text is quoted at least three times in the New Testament to support the teaching that people are saved by grace through faith. 

In Romans 1:17 Paul says, “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”

Then in Galatians 3:11 Paul writes, “Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because ‘the righteous will live by faith.’”

Then, in Hebrews 10:38-39 we read, “‘But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.’ But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.”

Habakkuk 2:4 also became the rallying cry of the Protestant Reformation in the 16^th century under the influence of Martin Luther. The same principle that was applicable in the realm of national deliverance was seen, by Paul and the Reformers, as applicable to spiritual deliverance (salvation). Perhaps this is why some see in Habakkuk 2:4 "the hinge of history".

Since this is such an important text, let’s examine the three words of Habakkuk 2:4 word by word…

But the Just

The first word in Hebrew takes three words to translate: but the just. To understand these words, we must first understand the context. In the first half of Habakkuk 2:4, the Lord says, “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright…”

Remember, the Lord is answering Habakkuk’s complaint. In chapter 1, Habakkuk’s question was: Why does the evil in Judah go unpunished? (1:2-4) And the Lord’s answer was: the Babylonians will punish Judah. (1:5-11)

 

So now, Habakkuk’s complaint gets more intense. He asks: How can a just God use wicked Babylon to punish a people more righteous than themselves? (1:12-17) And God gives his answer to Habakkuk in chapter 2: Babylon will be punished, and faith will be rewarded. (2:1-20)

 

You see, in Habakkuk 2:4, the Lord is agreeing with Habakkuk. Yes, the enemy, Babylon, is proud. It is true, Babylon does not have the right desire.

 

So, how are the people of God supposed to live when evil seems to be running rampant in the world and nothing makes sense? God’s answer is… the just by faith shall live.

 

So, who are the just? And what does it mean to be just?

 

Let’s take the second question first. The word in Hebrew is צַדִיק (tsaddiq) and can be translated as “just” or “righteous”. The word in the Greek translation of this verse is δίκαιος and can also be translated as “just” or “righteous”.

 

But who are the just ones? Who are the righteous ones? And how do they get that way?

Bible commentator David Prior answers those questions this way…

The righteous have manifestly not achieved their righteousness by their own decisions or actions, but have acquired it by the sovereign decision of God. In the Old Testament, righteousness always means ‘right with God’ (hence the variety of renderings of which it is capable, consistent with this basic truth). Instead of remaining in the arrogance of their self-sufficiency, the righteous have decided to trust in a faithful and promise-keeping God. Such people then discover what it really means to live.[2]

Building on this statement from Habakkuk 2:4, when we get to the New Testament Paul will insist that anyone who wants to can be justified (declared righteous) by faith in Jesus Christ.

This leads us to the second word in Habakkuk 2:4, בֶּאֱמוּנָת֥וֹ (bemunato), which is translated in English by the three words: by his faith.

By His Faith

This was no new message, that the just shall live by faith. The message about the importance of faith did not begin with Habakkuk. As Paul points out in Romans 4:3, the message goes back at least as far as Abraham.  In Genesis 15:6 we read, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”

But before we go any further, I must note a debate that is ongoing about this verse. The question arises, should the Hebrew word בֶּאֱמוּנָת֥וֹ (bemunato) be translated as “faith” or “faithfulness”? One can see it translated sometimes one way and sometimes the other way in various Bible translations. David Prior explains the meaning of the word this way…

‘The Hebrew denotes “firmness”; then, as an attribute of God, trustworthiness, unchangeable fidelity in the fulfilment of his promises; and, as an attribute of man, fidelity in word and deed; and in his relation to God, firm attachment to God, an undisturbed confidence in the promises of grace.’ The word speaks of trust through thick and thin in a trustworthy God, who stands by us through thick and thin as Saviour—a veritable Rock.

This is a faith ‘which strips us of all arrogance and leads us naked and needy to God’—precisely the contrast between such a person (the righteous) and the puffed-up arrogance of those who do not admit any need of God.[3]

In the Greek translation of Habakkuk 2:4 the word is πίστεώς. That word too can be translated either as “faith” or “faithfulness”. And the text indicates a possessive, “his”. Whose faith or faithfulness are we talking about? Is it human faith and faithfulness or God’s faithfulness?

The same question carries over into Paul’s use of the Greek term in his letter to the Church at Rome. I had a class on Romans in seminary in which I argued in my final paper that Paul was talking about our human faith in Christ. That’s what brings us life.

But that does not really cover the whole picture. Because our human faith is in Jesus’ faithfulness. And our faith is not really ours, it is a gift, as Paul points out in Ephesians 2,

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

So, faith is a gift, given to us by God. We put our faith in the faithfulness of Jesus who lived a perfect life for us, died in the place of sinners on the cross, and rose again from the dead. And once we receive the gift of faith in Christ, that produces faithfulness in our lives—not all at once—but over time. And one day the work of faithfulness that God has done in us and through us will be complete when we stand before Jesus and see him as he really is because we will be made like him.

I like what David Prior says about this. “Neither human faithlessness nor divine delays can nullify the faithfulness of God.”[4] Amen. The work that God begins in us, he will bring to completion, as Paul says in Philippians.

Shall Live

The final word of Habakkuk 2:4 is יִחְיֶֽה׃ (yih-yeh). This is translated into English with two words: shall live. This word is used in the Hebrew Scriptures to refer both to physical life and spiritual life. In Greek there are two different words for life. Bios refers to physical life and Zoe refers to spiritual life. The word used in the Greek translation of Habakkuk 2:4 is Zoe. The authors of the New Testament, including Paul, quote most often from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. So, it is quite certain that Paul was thinking of spiritual life when he quoted Habakkuk 2:4. The just by faith shall have spiritual life. And that equates to everlasting life, the life of the ages, a whole new quality of life that can begin for us now and will never end.

So, wrapping this all up together, I believe we can say, from a Christian perspective, that the moment we put our faith, our trust, in Jesus Christ, we are justified, declared righteous in God’s sight because of what Jesus has done for us, and at that same moment we pass from death to life.

Faith is not academic. Nor is faith like a business deal. Faith is trust. And trust is personal. It is trust in the person of Jesus Christ. Faith is putting your life in Jesus’ hands.

What does such faith look like? I believe that faith looks something like the Reverend E. V. Hill, Pastor of the Missionary Baptist Church in South Central Los Angeles, who in 1987 preached his own wife’s funeral. I don’t know how he had the strength to do that, to preach his own wife’s funeral, his beloved wife of 32 years. But Hill preached on the text from Job 1:21, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” When I first heard that sermon, and to this day I would say, it is one of the greatest funeral sermons I have ever heard. Toward the end of the sermon, Rev. Hill says that as his wife lay dying, he said to the Lord, “I want her back, I want her healed.” And the Lord said to E. V., “Trust Me.” At first, Hill wasn’t sure what the Lord’s statement meant. Was his wife going to be healed? And then when she passed, Hill came to realize that the Lord meant, “Trust me, even if I take your beloved wife.” “Trust me.” Those were Hill’s final words in the sermon.

It’s like what Jesus said to his own disciples on the night before his death…

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You trust in God; trust also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.

Trust. It’s a gift from God. We can trust him for this life, and for the life to come. The just by faith will live… forevermore. Amen.

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[1] David Prior, The Message of Joel, Micah & Habakkuk, Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1999, p. 235.

[2] Ibid, 239-240.

[3] Ibid, 239.

[4] Ibid, 236-237.