International Bible Lessons Commentary Habakkuk 2:1-5; 3:17-19 King James Version International Bible Lessons Sunday, October 5, 2014 The International Bible Lesson Sunday, October 5, 2014, is from Habakkuk 2:1-5; 3:17-19. Questions for Discussion and Thinking Further follow the verse-by-verse International Bible Lesson Commentary below. Study Hints for Thinking Further, a study guide for teachers, discusses the five questions below to help with class preparation and in conducting class discussion; these hints are available on the International Bible Lessons Commentary website. The weekly International Bible Lesson is usually posted each Saturday before the lesson is scheduled to be taught. International Bible Lesson Commentary Habakkuk 2:1-5; 3:17-19 (Habakkuk 2:1) I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. Very little is known about the prophet Habakkuk. Some scholars believe he might have been a contemporary of Jeremiah. His message and experience can apply to any time and place when uncertainties prevail in the world regarding sickness and health, economic uncertainty and personal safety, war and peace. The believer can go to God in prayer as the prophet Habakkuk did to seek the reason for their troubles and affirm their faith in God in spite of their dire and uncertain circumstances. (Habakkuk 2:2) And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. God can reveal His answer personally as He did to Habakkuk; however, God will often send a messenger with His answer for many people, as God did through Habakkuk. God told Habakkuk to write His answer so large on a tablet that someone running past, perhaps fleeing from an enemy, could read it without pausing to stop. The answer God gave Habakkuk has become part of our Bible as part of God’s answer in times of trouble. 2 ((Habakkuk 2:3) For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. The end could apply to the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New Covenant, or to the end of Jerusalem in the time of the Babylonians or later to the time when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, or to the time before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ or to some other end of a culture or society or country. Sometimes we must wait for God to fulfill His promises, and we are told to wait because He surely will fulfill them. We need to take God’s perspective and from God’s perspective He will not delay. (Habakkuk 2:4) Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. All this-worldly accomplishments and endeavors, all injustices and times of oppression will end someday. The proud who survey the godless works of their hands in rebellion against God will come to an end according to God’s perfect timing. Their spirit is one of selfishness and self-promotion. The righteous will live by their faith in God that leads them to obey God no matter the possible consequences and suffering to themselves personally. The righteousness of the faithful results from God’s grace and their trust in God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. (Habakkuk 2:5) Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people: The love of money, the desire to acquire more and more money or property or power over others is deceiving and treacherous to the self-centered and selfish; and such people can deceive or entrap the innocent believer who will cry out to God for justice and freedom. The godless wealthy never have enough of the things of this world to satisfy them, and they grasp for more and more of those things that will never satisfy. The most wealthy and powerful godless people will unite in an effort to bring all the nations and people of the earth under their power so they can enslave them and increase their wealth, power, and security; such was the case with the Babylonians, the Romans, some political movements, and will be the case before Jesus Christ comes again. (Habakkuk 3:17) Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: 3 Habakkuk recorded the right faith response to God when world history or personal problems seem to be the very worst. Though in abject poverty because of what had happened around him and to him when God had to punish Judah for their idolatry, Habakkuk resolved to keep believing in God and trusting God as He revealed himself in the sacred writings Habakkuk knew, in the history of Israel, and in the comfort God gave him personally. (Habakkuk 3:18) Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. No matter how tough the times, Habakkuk resolved not only to keep believing in the true God of the universe, he would do more! He would rejoice in God and exult in the fact that God was his Savior and would be his salvation – if not in his personal lifetime on earth, then after his death, because he trusted in God who had promised to send the Redeemer Messiah into the world. Habakkuk knew the Messiah would come someday, and He trusted in God and His promises no matter what was happening around him. (Habakkuk 3:19) The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments. Rather than wallow in hopeless despair over his circumstances, because Habakkuk believed in the LORD, God gave Habakkuk strength beyond what he needed. God gave Habakkuk the spiritual strength to soar above his problems and spend time praising God instead of remaining in the dark valley where he found himself. He knew the words of the psalmist, who before him knew what Habakkuk had come to believe: “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want” (see Psalm 23). These last verses of Habakkuk could be sung, and sung by a congregation to memorize in preparation for troubled times.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 09:38:33 +0000
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