(Part 1)

JBTM Paul D. Wegner
104
But there is a crucial detail in v. 11: God is watching Nebuchadnezzar and his army and at
some point he will make sure that they are held to account for the devastation left in their
wake. What more could we ask?
So the first step Habakkuk takes in his journey as he learns to trust his God is to “Stop
Complaining and Listen to God.” Once we listen to what God has to say, we sometimes
have to readjust our understanding of who he is. This is the next step.
STEP 2: REEVALUATE YOUR FAULTY PRESUPPOSITIONS ABOUT GOD (1:12–2:20)
Habakkuk’s Complaint (1:12–2:1)
In this first part of the second cycle Habakkuk speaks again in vv. 12–13. Let’s read them.
Habakkuk has good theology. He knows that God is eternal (v. 12), he can use other nations
to judge (v. 12), he is holy (v. 13), and he cannot approve of evil (v. 13). But Habakkuk
has a dilemma, which he states clearly in v. 13b: “So why do You tolerate those who are
treacherous? Why are You silent while one who is wicked swallows up one who is more
righteous than himself?”
God’s response in the previous verses blows Habakkuk’s understanding of God right
out of the water. He knows that God cannot approve of evil and that the Babylonians are
unquestionably cruel. So why would God let them destroy Judah, the only part of God’s
nation that was still functioning? This does not sound like the God that Habakkuk knows.
Here is where it is good to take a step back and look at what had been happening in
Israel and Judah that led up to the event about to take place. By the seventh century BC,
the Israelites as a nation had wandered far from God, both in their worship of other gods
and in the corruption of their society. God had already sent several prophets to warn to the
nation of judgment if they continued along their idolatrous path, but the Israelites ignored
these warnings. They made no change. As a result, by Habakkuk’s time the people of Judah
would have already seen how God punished the northern kingdom by allowing Assyria to
take them off into captivity. And yet the people of Judah did not change their ways. God is
announcing that it is now time for Judah’s punishment.
From Habakkuk’s perspective, however, the Babylonians are by far more evil. They were
cruel, unrighteous pagans that deserved God’s punishment. Why would God spare them
and punish his own people instead? Habakkuk argues his case before God, offering his
evidence in vv. 14–17. Let’s read them.
Habakkuk reminds God that the Babylonians have proven themselves to be thoroughly
pagan—they worship their “net.” Habakkuk uses the allegorical language of fishing
to describe Babylon at war in the world. He says the Babylonians have been rampaging