At a Glance
Habakkuk at a Glance
Most prophets speak to the people for God. Habakkuk speaks to God for the people. His book is a conversation in which an honest believer asks the hardest questions and learns to trust before he gets every answer.
- Author. Habakkuk the prophet (Habakkuk 1:1). Nothing else is told about him. The closing note about stringed instruments (Habakkuk 3:19) suggests that his prayer was set to music for use in worship.
- Date. About 609 to 605 BC, early in the reign of King Jehoiakim. Assyria's capital had fallen, Babylon was rising, and the Chaldeans had not yet come against Judah (Habakkuk 1:5–6).
- Written To. The people of Judah, who had slipped back into violence and injustice after the revival under King Josiah.
- Setting. Wrong was winning inside Judah, and a fierce foreign power was about to arrive. Habakkuk could not see how a holy God could allow either one.
- Key Verse. the just shall live by his faith (Habakkuk 2:4).
- Key Word or Theme. Faith. A believer trusts God's character while God's plan is still unfolding.
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Further reading
For Deeper Study
- Be AmazedAmazon Warren W. WiersbeA warm, practical study that includes Habakkuk, with plenty of help for hard seasons.
- From Fear to FaithAmazon D. Martyn Lloyd-JonesSermons on Habakkuk by a famed Welsh preacher. Reformed; we differ on some points of salvation doctrine.
- The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and ZephaniahAmazon O. Palmer RobertsonA scholarly commentary (NICOT). Reformed; we differ on God's future for Israel.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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