Introduction

The book of Habakkuk reveals a raw and honest dialogue between the prophet and God. Habakkuk questions God’s justice amidst Israel’s rampant sin and God’s surprising response to use Babylon—a far more wicked nation—as His instrument of judgment. God’s message to Habakkuk is both challenging and comforting: the sovereignly just God will enforce His saving justice even if it tarries.

Key Points

• Main Point: The sovereignly just God will enforce His saving justice even if it tarries.
• Purpose: Turn to God by trusting His goodness even if He allows you to face imminent hardship.

Habakkuk 1:1

The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

In the Old Testament, God spoke through prophets to reveal His will to His people, even when His ways seemed mysterious or difficult to understand. Unlike other prophets who primarily declared God’s word to Israel, Habakkuk presents a dialogue between himself and God, wrestling with divine justice and human suffering.

Habakkuk 1:2

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?

Unlike other prophetic books where God speaks first, Habakkuk begins with a lament, expressing frustration over God’s apparent silence in the face of Israel’s injustice. In a sin-marred world, times when we feel God’s absence or inaction are not unusual. Habakkuk reminds us that faith does not suppress hard questions but brings them honestly before God. We can lament, yet trust that God hears and will answer.

Habakkuk 1:3–4

Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.

Habakkuk’s complaint is not just about personal suffering, but about the moral collapse of Israel. He grieves that God’s law is being ignored and justice is being perverted, allowing evil to flourish. We should not be surprised when even religious people twist God’s word for selfish gain, tolerating injustice. But like Habakkuk, our response should be lament and intercession, rather than despair.

Habakkuk 1:5–6

Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.

God responds—but in a shocking way. Instead of immediately restoring justice, He announces that He will use the ruthless Babylonians (Chaldeans) to judge Israel. This is not what Habakkuk expected! God’s answers often do not align with our expectations. When He allows difficult circumstances, we must trust that His plans are higher than ours (Isa 55:8–9), even if they seem incomprehensible at the time.

Habakkuk 1:7–8

They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves;
their horsemen press proudly on. They fly like an eagle swift to devour.

The Babylonians are described as an unstoppable force, ruthless and arrogant, bringing terror wherever they go. Their “justice” is self-made, meaning they do whatever they please. God’s sovereignty over history does not mean He approves of all human actions. He can use even evil nations for His purposes, yet they are still accountable for their wickedness.

Habakkuk 1:9–11

They all come for violence, all their faces forward.
They gather captives like sand.
At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it.
Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
guilty men, whose own might is their god!

The Babylonians worship power and rely on their own strength rather than recognizing God. This self-exaltation is precisely what will lead to their downfall. The world often exalts power, wealth, and success, but God warns that those who trust in their own might will ultimately fall. Only those who trust in God will endure (Hab 2:4b).

Habakkuk 1:12–13

Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment,
and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked
swallows up the man more righteous than he?

Habakkuk acknowledges God’s eternal righteousness, but wrestles with the apparent contradiction—why does a more wicked nation (Babylon) punish a less wicked one (Israel)? When God’s actions seem to contradict His goodness, we must anchor ourselves in His character, even when we don’t understand His ways.

Habakkuk 1:14–15

You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.
He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.

Habakkuk laments the brutality that Babylon will inflict onto not just Israel, but all opposing nations. He likens the nations like fish being caught by fisherman Babylon, ready to be devoured like prey. Due to human sin, the brutality of humans will never know any bound, as nation after nation conquer one another with endlessly escalating violence. Our only hope is in God’s kingdom, whose weapons of warfare are drastically different.

Habakkuk 1:16–17

Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet;
for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich.
Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?

What will Babylon do with his freshly caught prey, namely, the plunder from destroyed nations? He will enslave them to worship the gods of Babylon, multiply his wealth and resources, then attack even more nations, rinsing-and-repeating in an endlessly violent cycle. The nagging feeling that the evil around us will never end is not only emotionally valid, but even logically valid. Our healthy recognition of man’s hopeless evil without Christ ought to provoke us to turn to Christ, who alone can change our hearts and free us from our self-centered habits.

Habakkuk 2:1

I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower,
and look out to see what he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

Habakkuk positions himself as a watchman, waiting for God’s reply. This is an act of faith—instead of turning away in frustration, he waits expectantly for God to respond. When we struggle with unanswered prayers, we should follow Habakkuk’s example: wait on God, trusting that He will speak in His perfect timing.

Habakkuk 2:2–3

And the LORD answered me: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

God’s justice is coming, even if it seems delayed. His plan will unfold at the appointed time. God’s promises never fail. When justice seems delayed, we must trust in His perfect timing (2 Pet 3:9).

Habakkuk 2:4a; 5

Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him…
Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest.
His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough.
He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.

God condemns Babylon for his worship of self, and how all of his drunken and insatiable lust for pleasure and power will eventually turn against him. Habakkuk sees the outward impacts of Babylon’s evil; God uncovers the inward source of Babylon’s evil. Not only can God see the end from the beginning, He can even uncover motives hidden to the human heart. If His kindness is not enough, we can trust His complete and thorough use of and complete control over human evil.

Habakkuk 2:4b

But the righteous shall live by his faith.

To live by faith means trusting God’s promises despite present uncertainties. In Habakkuk’s time, this meant believing that God would discipline Israel through Babylon and later judge Babylon itself. The righteous would endure by trusting in God’s promise that He will execute justice even when His ways seemed delayed. For Christians, faith is more than belief—it is a life transformed by the Gospel, anchored in God carrying out all of His promises, first and foremost through Christ’s death and resurrection (Rom 1:16–17). It shapes how we think, act, and hope, compelling us to live with eternity in view. Even when circumstances seem bleak, we hold onto the truth that God is faithful, just, and will ultimately set all things right (Rev 21:3–5).

Conclusion

Habakkuk 1:1–2:5 portrays a profound wrestling between God’s justice and the presence of evil. Habakkuk questions God’s purposes, and God responds with His sovereign plan to use even wicked nations like Babylon to accomplish His justice. Ultimately, God calls His people to live by faith, trusting Him through imminent hardships and waiting patiently for His perfect justice to prevail.

Summary

1. Habakkuk laments the sin and injustice among God’s people and questions God’s apparent silence (1:1–4).
2. God reveals His surprising plan to use Babylon as an instrument of judgment (1:5–11).
3. Habakkuk wrestles with God’s use of greater evil to judge lesser evil (1:12–17).
4. God assures Habakkuk of His sovereign justice and calls His people to live by faith (2:1–5).