Habakkuk 1:1

This chapter begins with the salutation (Habakkuk 1:1), and a plaintive summary of Judah's wickedness (Habakkuk 1:2,3). Then comes the bold and courageous prophecy of the destruction of Judah by the Chaldeans (Habakkuk 1:4-11). But Habakkuk had a problem with regard to the inherent justice of God who would use the wicked Babylonians against a people who, wicked as they were, were yet better than the Babylonians. As a result of that problem, Habakkuk did not withdraw from God and assume the status of an enemy; but he boldly presented it (Habakkuk 1:12-17) and waited patiently for the answer, which came, of course, in the opening verses of the next chapter. It is well to keep in mind that Habakkuk's concern here was the inherent justice or righteousness of God, a fact that corroborates that as the subject of the apostle Paul in Romans 1:17ff.

Habakkuk 1:1

"The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see."

"Burden..." "This noun, translated in other versions as oracle, utterance, or lifted up, is synonymous with revelation, a revelation which had come from God."[1] The RSV is therefore correct in the addition of "from God." "It became a technical term for a prophecy spoken against a nation under judgment";[2] and that is the usual meaning of it in the Old Testament. Nahum is a "burden" against Assyria; and Habakkuk is a "burden" against both Judah and Babylon. Although the wickedness of Judah is outlined, and the agent of their doom prophesied, the prophet nevertheless directed his words, not to Judah, but "almost entirely to God or the Chaldeans."[3]