Habakkuk 1:12-17

CHAPTER XVII

THE SECOND QUESTION

Habakkuk 1:12-17

RV. Art thou not from everlasting, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? we shall not die. O Jehovah, thou hast ordained him for judgement; and thou, O Rock, has established him for correction. Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy peace when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he; and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad. Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his food plenteous. Shall he therefore empty his net, and spare not to slay the nations continually?
LXX. Art thou not from the beginning, O Lord God, my Holy One? and surely we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast established it for judgement, and he has formed me to chasten with his correction. His eye is too pure to behold evil doings, and to look upon grievous afflictions: wherefore dost thou look upon despisers? wilt thou be silent when the ungodly swallows up the just? And wilt thou make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the reptiles which have no guide? He has brought up destruction with a hook, and drawn one with a casting net, and caught another in his drags: therefore shall his heart rejoice and be glad. Therefore will he sacrifice to his drag, and burn incense to his casting-net, because by them he has made his portion fat, and his meats choice. Therefore will he cast his net, and will not spare to slay the nations continually.

COMMENTS

O JEHOVAH, MY GOD, MY HOLY ONE. Habakkuk 1:12(a)

God had warned Habakkuk he would not believe the answer to his question. (Habakkuk 1:5) The prophet, upon hearing Jehovah's description of the Chaldeans whom He is raising up to punish the sins of Judah, recoils in shocked horror and incredulity.

The first half of verse twelve is, to the prophet, a rhetorical question. It answers itself in the asking of it. Jehovah is from everlasting! He is the God of Israel's prophets! He is Holy! Therefore, His people shall not die.

Here is the most succinct statement in all the Bible of the gross misconception the Jews had of their relationship to God. Their major premise, i.e. the everlasting holy nature of God is correct, but their false conclusion, i.e. that they, as a people, could not, therefore, die was based on a minor premise of their own devising!

In The Story of the Jew Briefly Told, published by Bloch Publishing Company with Jewish confirmation manual, Dr. Maurice H. Harris says, It took centuries to grasp the concepts that God is wholly spirit and without material form, that He is the sole ruler of the universe, not sharing this power with other divinities; that He is omniscient, Omnipresent, and eternal; that He is absolutely righteous and just in dealing with His childrennot favoring Israel more than other people, though they were the first to recognize Him. (Italics mine)

Dr. Harris here places his finger on the problems of both the nation of Judah and the prophet Habakkuk. The first question asked by the prophet grew out of circumstances fostered by the failure of the people to understand that ... God is wholly spirit and without material form, that He is the sole Ruler of the universe. This failure allowed the Jews again and -again to fall into the worship of Baal. (See the discussion of Micah.)

The second question posed by the prophet (Habakkuk 1:12) resulted from their failure to understand that God ... is absolutely righteous and just in dealing with His childrennot favoring Israel more than other people.

Nahum's question to Nineveh on the eve of her doom was Art thou better than No-Amon. ? (Nahum 3:8) As we saw in our study of Nahum, No-Amon, the capital of Egypt, had been devastated by the Assyrians. Nahum would have the Ninevites know they are no better and hence no more assured of national survival than No-Amon. Had someone asked this same question of Judah on the eve of the Babylonian captivity, or of Habakkuk when he entered into his debate with God concerning God's use of the Chaldeans to punish Judah, both the nation and the prophet would have answered a resounding, Yes! They believed they were better.

If their superiority over other people was not evidenced in their unfaithfulness or their moral corruption, they believed that God's past dealings with their father's proved it.
They were mistaken. John the Baptist, centuries later, challenged the same attitude. (Cf. Luke 3:7-9)

The fundamental Jewish error is a misunderstanding, not only of the nature of God, but as well a misunderstanding of a doctrine which runs through both the Old and New Testaments. It is often called the doctrine of Election. (We suggest just here that the reader review the Chapter s on the covenant in the introductory section and also my book, Thus It Is Written, College Press.)

This doctrine, that God is calling out of every kindred and race of man a people for His own possession, is inherent in the unfolding inspired interpretation of the work of God in history and makes up the bulk of the Old Testament Scripture. It is the entire burden of the Luke-Acts narrative and comes in for a detailed analysis in the writings of Paul, especially Ephesians, Romans, and Galatians. The Jews were made a heritage of God, having been foreordained according to the plan of Him who effects all things according to the council of His will. (Ephesians 1:11) This plan of God, which is the mystery hidden in times past to be revealed in Christ through the church, (Ephesians 3:1-16), never included the Jews or the nation of Israel simply for their own sakes or as an end in themselves.

God chooses whom He will e.g. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, et al. His choice is made not primarily from the standpoint of its advantage to the chosen.

Nor is His choice, even in the Old Testament, limited only to the physical descendants of Abraham. Paul illustrates this truth in Romans 9:14 by referring to Exodus 9:16. There God says to the Egyptian Pharaoh (who was anything but a Jew), For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be published abroad in the earth. In a similar vein, Jehovah might well have made a similar statement to the Chaldeans. (Habakkuk 1:6)

The perversion of the Biblical doctrine of election reaches its climax in those who commit themselves to a dispensationalism which makes the Jew per se the center of God's concern, both in the Bible and in the age to come. Such people believe about the Jew exactly what the Jew came to believe about himself. This belief blinds men to the revealed purpose of God's intervention in human history.

The point is, of course, that the elect or more accurately the called of God, whether individuals or nations, are never chosen for their own sakes merely, but that they are rather called to participate in God's eternal plan to offer the blessings of Abraham to all mankind.

O JEHOVAH. O ROCK. Habakkuk 1:12(B)

Habakkuk does not doubt God for a moment. Difficult as it is for him to accept the idea that God should raise up such as the Chaldeans to judge His people, the prophet immediately concedes: Thou hast ordained him (the Chaldeans, particularly Nebuchadnezzar) and thou. hast established him for correction.
We must also not fail to recognize Habakkuk's conviction that God's people could not be wiped out is related to his understanding, quite correctly, that God is Himself eternal. His error was in identifying that people with a race and a nation, and in objecting to God's use of another nation and race to bring about His purposes.

The term O Rock applied to Jehovah is reminiscent of Deuteronomy 32:4 His use of it reflects Habakkuk's conviction that God's work is perfect. His ways are just, even though they are beyond the prophet's own understanding.

Indeed, it is precisely because of what he knows about God, coupled with his Jewish nationalism that has caused him to so question Jehovah.

THOU THAT ART OF PURER EYES. Habakkuk 1:13

Habakkuk knows God to be a pure God who cannot tolerate the presence of evil in His sight. Whatever else the Word teaches about God, it certainly affirms this truth, from Eden to Calvary.
How, then, the prophet asks, can such a God look on such perversiveness as is present among the Chaldeans? Why will He look on Babylon's destruction of Judah and hold His peace? His bias shows through when he asserts that the Jews of his day are more righteous than the Babylonians.

Two fallacies should be recognized at this point. First, Jehovah, in revealing His intention to raise up the Chaldeans against Judah, did not say He would overlook Babylon's evil. Divinely recorded history proves He did, in fact, no such thing.
Secondly, the insistence that Judah is more righteous than the Babylonians raises a moot question. They had adopted the Baal worship which originated in the Chaldeas. They had been unfaithful to Jehovah when they were the only people on earth who had His written word. Their behavior had consequently become so corrupt that it was the very reason God chose to raise up a pagan people to smite them.

... HE MAKEST MEN AS FISHES. Habakkuk 1:14-17

The prophet reinforces his argument by changing his emphasis from the holy nature of God to the unholy nature of the Chaldeans-' treatment of people He first says that the incursion of the Chaldeans causes confusion. Like a school of fish or a swarm of insects, those struck by Babylon are left purposeless and leaderless. Then, in the confusion, the Chaldeans capture slaves like catching fish with various nets and devices.
It was indeed the practice of Nebuchadnezzar to lead away to slavery those who were the leaders of a conquered people. As we say, Micah promised that exactly this would happen. The practice, according to Micah, was God'S device to punish those whose leadership had corrupted the nation.

In verse sixteen, Habakkuk adds that the success of the Chaldeans is the force of their own skill and power (rather than dependence upon God). They idolize themselves because of this (Cf. Deuteronomy 6:17, cp. Isaiah 10:13; Isaiah 37:24-25). To Habakkuk this is further evidence that Jehovah cannot use such a nation against his own people.

(Habakkuk 1:17) Furthermore, asks the prophet, will there ever be an end to it, if God allows such a people as the Chaleans to succeed against His chosen ones? This argument sounds extremely familiar to us today as we are asked to believe that God cannot control the evil forces of communism if these forces are allowed to prevail against us. Perhaps we, as Habakkuk, need to give serious attention to God's answer.

Chapter XVIIQuestions

The Second Question

1.

Show how God's answer to Habakkuk's first question gave rise to the second question.

2.

State the prophet's second question in your own words.

3.

Show how the Jews-' misconception of themselves as God's people is reflected in Habakkuk's second question.

4.

What two concepts did the Jews find hard to grasp? (As stated by Dr. Maurice Harris)

5.

Show how Nahum's question to Nineveh (Nahum 3:8) could be asked here of Judah.

6.

What do you understand is the Biblical doctrine of election?

7.

How does dispensationalism pervert the doctrine of election?

8.

What word more accurately states the idea of election?

9.

What is implied by Habakkuk's use of the term O Rock in reference to Jehovah?

10.

What two fallacies combine to confuse Habakkuk in reference to God's purity and Babylon's impurity?

11.

Describe the activity of the Babylonians toward neighboring nations.

12.

In a sentence, what is Jehovah's answer to Habakkuk's second question?

13.

List the five woes with which God gives His answer.

14.

Show how these woes describe eternal principles in God's dealing with nations in history.