Wrestling to understand God’s ways
Hab 1:12-17
Where you stand determines what you see. It is self-evident in a physical sense that perspective is dependent on location, but it is equally true in a more abstract sense when we think of our context (intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual) and how it affects our perceptions. Thus, Protestant Christians are immersed in thoughts that emphasise salvation only by grace through faith, that stress our utter depravity and lack of righteousness by our own efforts. Therefore, Habakkuk’s question about the wicked swallowing up those more righteous than they (Hab 1:13) immediately rings alarm bells in our head. The prophet’s perspective must be faulty, since he is claiming a gradation of righteousness (some are better than others) and fails to see that all are under sin (Rom 3:9-18).[1] However, this imports a whole different set of issues into the passage about merit and so on, which God will not address, and this is our clue that our reading has a different focus.
God’s just character at stake
The level of desperation in Habakkuk’s voice suggests that his is not an academic question but one prompted by personal experience with the Babylonians who by this stage may have devastated part of Judah.[2] The prophet wrestles with God’s justice connected to two issues. One is the utter wickedness of Babylon (v.13), their glee in overpowering hapless nations like fishermen gather fish in the net (Hab 1:15) and the way they idolise their strength by worshipping their weapons of destruction (i.e. their ‘net’ in the fishing imagery; Hab 1:16). Further, there is no limit to the damage they cause, no mercy in them to spare anyone (Hab 1:17). How can a just and pure God allow such evil to flourish (v.13)? Second, there is implicit distress over the damage all this does to God’s people. Judah is on the verge of losing the land God has given them and some may have already been taken into exile. This looks not simply discipline and correction but complete obliteration (note the reference to being swallowed up in v.13 and no one being spared in v.17), disproportionate to the original problem. Is this the end of God’s people? How could this happen?
Habakkuk’s attitude
While the prophet’s question will have to wait for an answer, it is worth considering what we might learn from his attitude. First, he starts with God’s character, His holiness and purity (Hab 1:12, 13) as the basis for his query. Moreover, this is no abstract discussion, but one based on a personal relationship (note the reference to ‘my God’, ‘my Holy One’). None of us want to be disappointed in those we love and admire, and it is this fear perhaps that gives Habakkuk’s questioning such a desperate edge. Second, he turns to God Himself with his questions rather than away from Him. Many in his position walk away from the Lord, embittered, indignant and feeling superior about their own sense of justice. Third and relatedly, there is humility in his approach as he acknowledges God’s plan to judge and correct His own (Hab 1:12) and he implicitly recognises its rightness.[3]
How to approach God
We all face questions about why God acts in certain ways and our sense of His character and how we understand His love affects our estimation of Him. Perhaps more confusingly, we often do not know whether the Lord’s actions are discipline for sin or simply the suffering that comes to us all. At least, Habakkuk knew that the Babylonian invasion was God’s judgement on Judah’s sin even if he struggled with the enormity of the devastation. No matter what exactly triggers our questions, we may all wonder about what God is doing in our lives, in the lives of those we know or love or in the wider world. Yet, the takeaway of our reading is Habakkuk’s attitude. May we work out our questions in the context of a close relationship with the Lord, not turning away from Him because of hurt, anguish or doubt, but turning to Him for answers and help. May we also approach Him with humility knowing that our perspective is limited but His wisdom is infinite.
[1] The problem for us is that words like ‘righteousness’ and ‘righteous’ have taken on a weighty meaning because of the salvation context in Paul’s arguments, especially in Romans. It is, of course, true that sin so permeates our lives that that we cannot attain to salvation by our own efforts. However, we all recognise that some sins are weightier than others in our everyday context. In a marriage relationship, failing to empty the rubbish or snapping at our spouse is not on a par with adultery or abuse. Likewise, any court of law that did not distinguish between petty theft and murder and meted out the same punishment for both would be considered unjust. Thus, we should not judge Habakkuk’s comparison as wrong on the basis that it looks to relative merit or wrongdoing to assess the severity of punishment. He may be wrong in his actual assessment of Babylon and Judah, but the principle of looking to the scale of the problem of sin to determine the correction necessary is not wrong. In addition, among ‘the more righteous’ may have been those god-fearing Jews who were caught up in the national disaster with everyone else despite following God.
[2] Prophetic books are not necessarily a compilation of all the prophecies that a prophet spoke, so there may be longer or shorter time gaps between them. Thus, what we perceive as a continuous dialogue as we go through Habakkuk, would have taken place over several years. Nevertheless, the gap is a relatively short one here, since Babylon’s rise to power was quick (from their decisive victory at Carchemish in 605 BC to the first deportation of Jews in 597 BC, there is only 8 or so years).
[3] It is difficult to evaluate the line ‘We will not die’ (Hab 1:12) because the statement can also be translated as ‘May we not die!’. Hebrew does not have modal verbs like may, could, should, or would, so these must be supplied in English based on context. Thus, the latter alternative is a possible translation of the Hebrew. The prophet then is either making a statement of faith that God will limit correction and will not annihilate His people, or it is an appeal for mercy. Given the despairing questions that follow, the latter option seems more feasible to me. Alternatively, it may be an example of the struggle of faith that can boldly proclaim truth one moment then go under in a wave of despair the next.
Since this statement is so abrupt in the verse, an alternative suggestion is that the original read ‘you will not die’ (i.e. God is immortal), but that the Jewish scribes who copied manuscripts changed the ‘you’ to ‘we’ early on to avoid even the possibility of the thought that God could die. However, this does not resolve the abruptness and there is no way of checking whether such an alteration happened. Thus, on balance, it is best to stay with the existing Hebrew text, ‘we will not die/may we not die’.
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