HABAKKUK, the name borne by the eighth book of the Old Testament "Minor Prophets." Nothing is known of its writer, save what may be inferred from the book; legend connects him with Daniel ("Bel and the Dragon") . The book falls into three obvious parts, viz. (I) a dialogue between the prophet and God (i. 2-1i. 4) ; (2) a series of five woes pronounced on wickedness (ii. 5-1i. 2o) ; (3) a poem describing the triumphant manifesta tion of God (iii.). There is considerable difficulty in regard to the interpretation of (I) , on which that of (2) will turn; while (3) forms an independent section, to be considered separately.
In the dialogue the prophet cries to God against continued vio lence and injustice, though it is not clear whether this is done within or to Israel (i. 2-4). The Divine answer declares that God raises up the Chaldaeans, whose formidable resources are in vincible (i. 5-11). The prophet thereupon calls God's attention to the tyranny which He apparently allows to triumph and declares his purpose to wait till an answer is given to his complaint (i. 12—ii. I) . God answers by demanding patience, and by declaring that the righteous shall live by his faithfulness (ii. 2-4) .
The interpretation of this dialogue which first suggests itself is that the prophet is referring to wickedness within the nation, which is to be punished by the Chaldaeans (i.e., the Babylonians) as a Divine instrument; in the process the tyranny of the instrument itself calls for punishment, which the prophet is bidden to await in patient fidelity. On this view of the dialogue the subsequent woes will be pronounced against the Babylonians, and the date assigned to the prophecy will be about 600 B.C., i.e., soon after the battle of Carchemish (605 B.e.) when the Babylonian victory over Egypt inaugurated a period of Babylonian supremacy which lasted till Babylon was overthrown by Cyrus in 538 B.c. It is strange, however, that the prophet should pass so abruptly in a single dia logue from the wickedness of Israel to that of Babylon, thus de stroying his primary emphasis ; moreover, the wickedness of i. 2 seq. and of i. 12 seq. seems identical. Possibly i. 5-11 is a mis placed earlier prophecy, whilst i. 2-4, 12 seq. refers to the Baby lonian oppression of Israel (Giesebrecht, Nowack, Wellhausen) , or it is a part of the Divine answer, following ii. 4, which would make the Babylonians the Divine instrument for punishing As syrian tyranny (Budde). Duhm's theory (followed by Sellin) re fers the whole book to the time of Alexander the Great, by the violent emendation of "Chaldaeans" to "Chittim" (= Greeks).
The most striking characteristic of the poem (iii.) lies in the superscription ("A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shi gionoth"), the subscription ("For the chief musician, on my stringed instruments"), and the insertion of the musical term "Selah" in three places (v. 3, 9, 13) . These liturgical notes make extremely probable the supposition that the poem has been taken from some collection like that of our present book of Psalms. The poem begins with a prayer that God will renew the historic manifestation of the exodus, which inaugurated the national his tory and faith ; a thunderstorm moving up from the south is then described, in which God is revealed (3-7) ; it is asked whether this manifestation, whose course is further described, is against nature only (8—i I) ; the answer is given that it is for the salvation of Israel against its wicked foes 02-15) ; the poet describes the effect in terror upon himself (i6) and declares his confidence in God, even in utter agricultural adversity (17-19). There is nothing in this fine poem to connect it with the conception of the Chaldaeans as a Divine instrument. It is the nation that speaks through the poet (cf. v. 14), but at what period of its post-exilic history we have no means of inferring.
In regard to the theological teaching of the book : (I) the poem (iii.), though possibly latest in date, claims first consideration, be cause it avowedly moves in the circle of primitive ideas, and sup plicates a Divine intervention, a direct and immediate manifesta tion of the transcendent God. He is conceived as controlling or overcoming the forces of nature; and though an earlier mythology has supplied some of the ideas, yet, as with the opening chapters of Genesis, they are transfigured by the moral purpose which ani mates them, the purpose to subdue all things that could frustrate the destiny of God's anointed (v. 13) . The closing verses strike that deep note of absolute dependence on God, which is the glory of the religion of the Old Testament and its chief contribution to the spirit of the Gospels. (2) The prophecy of the Chaldaeans as the instruments of the Divine purpose involves a different, yet re lated, conception of the Divine providence. The philosophy of history, by which Hebrew prophets could read a deep moral sig nificance into national disaster, and turn the flank of resistless attack, became one of the most important elements in the nation's faith. If the world powers were hard as flint in their dealings with Israel, the people of God were steeled to such moral endurance that each clash of their successive onsets kindled some new flame of devotion. Through the Chaldaeans, God worked a work which required centuries of life and literature to disclose its fulness (i. 5) . (3) When we turn from this view of the Chaldaeans to the denunciation of their tyranny in "taunt songs" (ii. 5-2o), we have simply a practical application of the doctrine of Divine govern ment. God, being what He is, at once moral and all powerful, the immoral life is doomed to overthrow, whether the immorality con sist in grasping rapacity, proud self-aggrandizement, cruel exac tion, exulting triumph or senseless idolatry. (4) Yet, because the doom so often tarries, there arises the problem of the suffer ing of the innocent and the upright. How can God look down with tolerance that seems favour on so much that conflicts with His declared will and character? This is the great problem of Israel, finding its supreme expression for all time in the book of Job (q.v.). In that book the solution of the problem of innocent suf fering lies hidden from the sufferer, even to the end, for he is not admitted with the reader to the secret of the prologue ; it is the practical solution of faithfulness resting on faith which is offered to us. So here, with the principle of ii. 4, "the righteous shall live by his faithfulness." The different application of these words in the New Testament to "faith" is well known (Rom. i. 17 ; Gal. iii. I I ; Heb. x. 38) though the difference is apt to be exaggerated by those who forget how much of the element of "faithfulness" lies in Paul's conception of "faith." In G. A. Smith's words, "as Paul's adaptation, `the just shall live by faith,' has become the motto of evangelical Christianity, so we may say that Habakkuk's original of it has been the motto and the fame of Judaism : `the righteous shall live by his faithfulness.' " BIBLIOGRAPHY.—There are German commentaries by Nowack (1897), Bibliography.—There are German commentaries by Nowack (1897), Wellhausen (1898) , Marti (1904) , Duhm (1906) , and Sellin (1922) ; one in French by Van Hoonacker (1908) , and English by Davidson Cambridge Bible (1896) ; G. A. Smith, Expositor's Bible (1898) ; Driver, Century Bible (1906) ; G. G. V. Stonehouse (191 I) ; W. H. Ward, International Critical Commentary (1912) ; A. R. Gordon, Peake's Commentary (1919) ; of which Driver's is the best.