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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Habakkuk
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Jamat
Shipmate
# 11621
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Posted
Most famously known for the famous verses:
"Though the fig tree does not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vine
The produce of the olive fail
And the fields yield no food
Though the flock be cut off from the fold
And there be no herd in the stall
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord"
In view of the constant questioning of God's allowance of evil, here is a Biblical text that purports to deal with the questions:
Why do the wicked prosper and the innocent suffer?
How long must I wait for an answer to my prayer?
Habbukuk is apparently a prophet co-terminous with the Babylonian exile. Almost nothing appears to be known about him apart from his name which is also obscure but which may denote the words 'embrace' or 'fragrant plant' (over to Nigel here)
Anyhow, Habbukuk starts with heavy questions and ends with the declaration above. The only explanation is that like Job, God somehow becomes real to him in a way such that afterwards, the heavy questions cease to matter to him. I merely offer this as a Biblical bone to chew.
[Edited thread title spelling. Yeah, I had to look it up too. Mamacita, Host]
[ 01. October 2015, 21:14: Message edited by: Moo ]
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Jamat ..in utmost longditude, where Heaven
with Earth and ocean meets, the setting sun slowly descended, and with right aspect
Against the eastern gate of Paradise. (Milton Paradise Lost Bk iv)
Posts: 3228 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Jul 2006
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Rossweisse
High Church Valkyrie
# 2349
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Posted
"Life is gawdawful in almost every respect; yet I will have hope in the Lord for as long as I live."
That works for me. Really. Well, mostly. But really.
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I'm not dead yet.
Posts: 15117 | From: Valhalla | Registered: Feb 2002
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
We were talking about something very similar on Sunday night. Not Habbukuk, but another woefully overlooked part of the OT. Lamentations.
The prophet has seen the total destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, he has watched the people led into Exile, the holy objects of the Temple hauled off to Babylon, and he knows that this is the work of the Lord. His world is taken away, he is at the bottom and still sinking down. He has no way out of the darkness he is in, he has forgotten what peace and prosperity are. He recalls all his afflictions, and his soul is downcast within him.
quote:
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion: therefore I will wait for him".
Lamentations 3: 21-24
In the depths of his despair, when he could see no evidence of the faithfulness, mercies and love of God (sorry Thomas Chisholm, he didn't see new mercies morning by morning, quite the opposite) he still could remember the love of God and declare his faith in the faithfulness of God.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Mamacita
Lakefront liberal
# 3659
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Rossweisse:
"Life is gawdawful in almost every respect; yet I will have hope in the Lord for as long as I live."
That works for me. Really. Well, mostly. But really.
![[Overused]](graemlins/notworthy.gif)
Jamat, thanks for starting this. I've been meaning to reread Habakkuk. This thread is a good motivator.
ETA: Off to the quotes file with you, Rossweisse!
[ 23. September 2015, 05:47: Message edited by: Mamacita ]
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Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
Posts: 20761 | From: where the purple line ends | Registered: Dec 2002
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georgiaboy
Shipmate
# 11294
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Posted
I have been interested to note that one of the windows in our monastery church shows Habbakuk being carried by his hair(!) by an angel to take his lunch to Daniel in the lions' den. (This is IIRC recounted in the LXX-only portion of the book of Daniel.) Thus tying the prophet directly to the Exilic history of Israel.
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You can't retire from a calling.
Posts: 1675 | From: saint meinrad, IN | Registered: Apr 2006
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Nigel M
Shipmate
# 11256
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Posted
The name 'Habakkuk' isn't typically Hebrew in style, but that may be a deliberate tactic by the person (father?) naming the child when he was born. The nearest Hebrew word is “embrace” - probably in the sense of a mother cuddling her new born child (and that may have been the prompt for the naming father!). The translator of the Greek version (terminologically lumped with 'LXX') doesn't seem to have understood the Hebrew name easily either; it appears as Ambakoum (= Αμβακουμ).
The opening protest of the book is striking:
quote:
How long, Yahweh, must I cry for help without you paying attention?
How long do I have to scream at you, “Unjust violence!” and you don't deliver?!
Why do you force me to see injustice while you look on at trouble?
Destruction and violence are right in front of me; there's conflict and ever increasing struggle!
This is why Torah is in rigor mortis; this is why rulings are never settled: Because rebels surround the loyal ones.
That's why rulings are twisted.
“How long?!” A typically indignant cry from those in a covenant relationship who believe that they have been loyal and therefore deserve protection and stability, but who are faced with evidence that their covenant partner is not keeping to his side of the bargain. It's might seem somewhat rude to western ears, trained since grandmother's knee always to grovel before a mighty God, but it is a respectable stance to take – and one therefore that Christians should not be embarrassed about. One has the right to be angry with God when covenant expectations are threatened; I don't think this is just an oriental piece of rhetoric to be consigned to the historical bin.
The term 'violence' also made me think. There seems to be an opposition in the Jewish scriptures between violence as “unjust violence” (hamas = חָמָס) from which one needs saving, and
“just violence” (herem = חֵרֶם), which on rare occasions God authorised his people to engage in.
In the light of this opening blast from Habakkuk, perhaps the heading (verse 1) should be taken in its more literal sense of “The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw”, rather than 'oracle', 'prophecy', 'message', or similar term in English.
Posts: 2826 | From: London, UK | Registered: Apr 2006
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Jamat
Shipmate
# 11621
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Posted
That is a very evocative translation of the opening verses Nigel. It captures the intensity of his sense of injustice. That fact that this made it into the scriptures is quite something as it is almost accusatory of God. He is literally screaming
"If you have the power to act to right wrongs, why don't you?"
[ 29. September 2015, 03:46: Message edited by: Jamat ]
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Jamat ..in utmost longditude, where Heaven
with Earth and ocean meets, the setting sun slowly descended, and with right aspect
Against the eastern gate of Paradise. (Milton Paradise Lost Bk iv)
Posts: 3228 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Jul 2006
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jamat:
That is a very evocative translation of the opening verses Nigel. It captures the intensity of his sense of injustice. That fact that this made it into the scriptures is quite something as it is almost accusatory of God. He is literally screaming
"If you have the power to act to right wrongs, why don't you?"
On the other hand, who hasn't at some point wanted to scream that accusation at God?
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Jamat
Shipmate
# 11621
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Alan Cresswell:
quote:
Originally posted by Jamat:
That is a very evocative translation of the opening verses Nigel. It captures the intensity of his sense of injustice. That fact that this made it into the scriptures is quite something as it is almost accusatory of God. He is literally screaming
"If you have the power to act to right wrongs, why don't you?"
On the other hand, who hasn't at some point wanted to scream that accusation at God?
Very true. Habbukuk though seems to see the light as it were in the same way Job does and that satisfies him as if to actually be spoken to by God is enough to shut down the questioning.
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Jamat ..in utmost longditude, where Heaven
with Earth and ocean meets, the setting sun slowly descended, and with right aspect
Against the eastern gate of Paradise. (Milton Paradise Lost Bk iv)
Posts: 3228 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Jul 2006
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
The passage quoted is part of the Old Testament canticle at Morning Prayer on Good Friday (and ever fourth Friday in the year) in the Roman Divine Office.
I find it very encouraging and use it on Friday mornings as part of the C of E Morning Prayer.
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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