Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today”, Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Wednesday, July 10, 2013 Read – Habakkuk 1:1-2:5 The book of Habakkuk consists of the pleading of a prophet for God to act in a time when hope was nearly lost. The setting is just prior to the time when the Babylonians conquered much of the known world. The date would have been just before 600 BC. The book was written as a dialogue between God and the prophet. The opening lines of the dialogue – verses 1-4 – belong to the prophet. In typical lament fashion the prophet asks how long he is to cry out before God will respond. The response of God comes in verses 5-11. The response is not what the prophet Habakkuk wanted to hear. The Babylonian, here referred to as the Chaldeans, would soon devastate the land. The response of God was not what the people wanted to hear either and so they are likely to reject it. Most of us do not do well with news we neither like nor expect. So, in this context of the book of Habakkuk the verse that Paul quotes is not a positive verse. And in the context in which Paul speaks it, these words are also not positive. Paul’s use of this passage is as a warning – God has offered them salvation in Jesus. They ought to not reject God’s offer. By the time Paul used this passage it was clear that Habakkuk’s plea for deliverance was not granted and that the words of the prophets had fallen on deaf ears. Paul’s hope is that his words will not also fall on deaf ears. The outcome was that some responded positively and others rejected the message of Paul just as the people of Habakkuk’s day had rejected the word of the prophets. Some things never change.