Book of Habakkuk

From Textus Receptus

Revision as of 05:55, 25 April 2009

The Book of Habakkuk is the eighth book of the 12 minor prophets of the Old Testament. It is attributed to the prophet Habakkuk, and was probably composed in the late 7th century BCE. A copy of chapters 1 and 2 (of 3) is included in the Habakkuk Commentary, found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Chapters 1-2 are a dialog between the LORD and the prophet. The central message, that "the just shall live by his faith" (2:4), plays an important rule in Christian thought. It is used in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38 as the starting point of the concept of faith.

Author

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Habakkuk identifies himself as a prophet in the opening verse. Due to the liturgical nature of the book of Habakkuk, there have been some scholars who think that the author may have been a temple prophet. Temple prophets are described in 1 Chronicles 25:1 as using lyres, harps and cymbals. Some feel that this is echoed in Habakkuk 3:19b, and that Habakkuk may have been a Levite and singer in the Temple.

There is no biographical information on the prophet Habakkuk; in fact less is known about him than any other writer of the Bible. The only canonical information we have comes from the book that is named for him. His name comes either from the Hebrew word חבק (khavak) meaning "embrace" or else from an Akkadian word hambakuku for a kind of plant.

Although his name does not appear in any other part of the Jewish Bible, Rabbinic tradition holds Habakkuk to be the Shunammite woman's son, who was restored to life by Elisha in 2 Kings 4:16. The prophet Habakkuk is also mentioned in the tale of Bel and the Dragon, part of the deuterocanonical additions to Daniel in a late section of that book. In the superscription of the Old Greek version, Habakkuk is called the son of Joshua of the tribe of Levi. In this book Habakkuk is lifted by an angel to Babylon to provide Daniel with some food while he is in the lion's den.