Habakkuk 1:12-17

THE GREATER PERPLEXITY, Habakkuk 1:12-17.

In the beginning the prophet was troubled because Jehovah seemed to look with indifference upon corruption; Jehovah replied that judgment was about to fall, that the Chaldeans were about to include Judah in their conquests. This announcement was accompanied by a recognition of the fierce and brutal character of the Chaldeans and their warfare; hence, far from calming the prophet’s doubts, it only intensified them. Can a holy God, he asks, look in silence upon the wrongs and cruelties perpetrated by the Chaldeans? Judah does, indeed, deserve judgment, but how can Jehovah send the godless Chaldeans to execute it? Is Judah to be annihilated by this monster? Is the triumph of the cruel world conqueror to continue forever? These and similar questions perplex the prophet, and in Habakkuk 1:12-17, we have a description of his struggle with the new problem, which taxes his faith to the uttermost.