Habakkuk 1:5

"Behold ye among the nations, and look, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs."

"Behold ye among the nations ..." There was nothing upon the historical horizon that indicated any possibility of a power about to rise up and destroy the Southern Israel, which had already survived the onslaught of the Assyrians which had carried away Samaria in 722 B.C. Something like an entire generation had passed since that disaster, and the southern nation of Israel had, in a sense, accommodated to the world-dominance of Assyria, expecting no trouble from them. Furthermore, Babylon, at the time of Habakkuk, was itself tributory to Assyria, affording no kind of threat to any nation. What Habakkuk was saying here was, that there was absolutely nothing in sight that would enable the people even to believe the disaster coming upon them. How could it even be imagined that such a declaration as this would have been boldly presented after the events prophesied had occurred? Whoever, throughout history, ever did such a thing? The prophets of God? Absolutely NO!

"And wonder marvelously ..." Habakkuk continued to stress the incredibility, from all human consideration, of the word of God which he here announced.

This whole verse strongly emphasizes the apparent impossibility of what Habakkuk was prophesying by the word of God.

The words (Habakkuk 1:5) are building up to a conclusion which the people would not believe if told. The work to be performed is so incredible that they would not think it possible, even if they were told. Such an extraordinary event must be seen to be believed.[13]

This passage, so vigorously attacked by Biblical enemies, has the advantage of New Testament attestation:

The apostle Paul quoted this verse, applying the principle of God's dealings in Habakkuk's day to the situation in the church in his own day (Acts 13:41). God's work of calling the Gentiles into his church would be just as astonishing as his work of using the Babylonians to punish Judah.[14]

Paul quoted it at Pisidian Antioch in the Jewish synagogue, using their version of the Old Testament (LXX), which begins: "Behold ye despisers, and wonder, and perish." That rendition of the place, plus Paul's usage of it, proves that Habakkuk was right and that the people of his time did not at all believe his prophecy. Paul's meaning was that the Jews who would not believe that God was calling the Gentiles would themselves perish in their stubbornness and unbelief.

"For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans ..." This prophecy, given at a time prior to the emergence of the Chaldeans as a world power, requires the dating of the prophecy at some time prior to 627 B.C. The problem with the critics is how to get rid of this troublesome word "Chaldeans." Some of them have freely admitted that as long as this reference stands, it is a tortuous and impossible assignment to late-date it. Accordingly, some have boldly changed the word:

"They emend (meaning, they substitute their own word for the word of Habakkuk) the word `Chaldeans' to `Kittini,' which they then take to refer to the Macedonian Greeks and the Asiatic campaigns of Alexander the Great (336-333 B.C.)!"[15]

Indeed, indeed! There is equal authority for "emending" the word to mean Romans, Visigoths, Germans, or Japanese, that is, none at all. What should be said of the conceit of men who will take a passage, clear and authentic enough as regards the text, and then deliberately change it to suit their theories? The greatest hoax of all is involved in the fact that, after having done so, they proceed to sell commentaries on "the Bible"; but what they are commenting on in such instances is not the work of a holy prophet, but their own words!

Deane gave the correct understanding of this verse (Habakkuk 1:6) as follows:

"This signifies the soldiers or inhabitants of Babylon, which won its independence and commenced its wonderfully rapid career of conquest after the fall of Nineveh between 626,606 B.C. At the time when Habakkuk wrote, the Chaldeans had not appeared in Judaea."[16]

It would be difficult indeed to cite a better example of inspired predictive prophecy than this passage from Habakkuk. Of course, the obvious truth of this is behind the fact of the book's having been treasured throughout millenniums of time and of its being given a place in the sacred Canon of the Word of God. To suppose otherwise is to suppose a miracle greater than that evident in such a remarkable prophecy.

"That march through the breadth of the earth ..." This is not merely a prophecy of the judgment and destruction of Judaea, but also of the rise of a world-power, the Chaldeans, who until this prophecy had never been supposed to be capable of world dominion.

"That bitter and hasty nation ..." One of the amazing characteristics of the Chaldean rise to worldwide authority was the speed of its accomplishment, another facet of Habakkuk's remarkable prophecy.