Habakkuk
Book of Habakkuk
The prophet Habakkuk introduced in his Book is not considered a prominent figure, as he is considered to be one of the twelve Minor Prophets. There is no indication of his lineage and is just referred to as Habakkuk the prophet in the Biblical text, but due the liturgical nature of the verses in the book, some scholars have described Habakkuk as a cultic prophet. The apocryphal and post-biblical literatures do not reach a consensus to who he was. Some say that he came from the tribe of Simeon and others in the tribe of Levi, and information as such is not regarded as true facts, rather as romanticized add-ons of the story, supporting the idea that these were just tacked on as later details. The estimated date that it was written in, was a time recent to the battle of Carchemish, which was the beginning of the 7th century BCE.
The battle of Carchemish was a battle at the said site, and was the Babylonians versus the Egyptians and a band of Assyrians. Both sides incurred heavy casualties, but it was unmistakable that the Babylonians had a resounding victory and the Assyrians were vanquished. In 604 BCE, the Chaldeans had declared their king Nebuchadnezzar II as the ruler of the neo-Babylonian empire. At this time, in the kingdom of Judah, the Jews were ruled under king Jehoiakim. While Judah had been paying tributes to Babylon, however, king Jehoiakim observed during a battle in 601 BCE, that there was a great loss on the Babylonian side against Egypt. This convinced him that he should abstain from giving their due tribute to Babylon and ally up with Egypt. This proved to be disastrous, and caused the exile of the Jewish peoples to other lands. While there is no mention that the Babylonians would seize Judah, there is a clear point wherein the words of Habakkuk would show to be true: the Babylonians are the ones that are gaining a lot of power and seizing nations. The book of Jeremiah is within the time of Habakkuk, and therefore their prophecies
The prophet Habakkuk introduced in his Book is not considered a prominent figure, as he is considered to be one of the twelve Minor Prophets. There is no indication of his lineage and is just referred to as Habakkuk the prophet in the Biblical text, but due the liturgical nature of the verses in the book, some scholars have described Habakkuk as a cultic prophet. The apocryphal and post-biblical literatures do not reach a consensus to who he was. Some say that he came from the tribe of Simeon and others in the tribe of Levi, and information as such is not regarded as true facts, rather as romanticized add-ons of the story, supporting the idea that these were just tacked on as later details. The estimated date that it was written in, was a time recent to the battle of Carchemish, which was the beginning of the 7th century BCE.
The battle of Carchemish was a battle at the said site, and was the Babylonians versus the Egyptians and a band of Assyrians. Both sides incurred heavy casualties, but it was unmistakable that the Babylonians had a resounding victory and the Assyrians were vanquished. In 604 BCE, the Chaldeans had declared their king Nebuchadnezzar II as the ruler of the neo-Babylonian empire. At this time, in the kingdom of Judah, the Jews were ruled under king Jehoiakim. While Judah had been paying tributes to Babylon, however, king Jehoiakim observed during a battle in 601 BCE, that there was a great loss on the Babylonian side against Egypt. This convinced him that he should abstain from giving their due tribute to Babylon and ally up with Egypt. This proved to be disastrous, and caused the exile of the Jewish peoples to other lands. While there is no mention that the Babylonians would seize Judah, there is a clear point wherein the words of Habakkuk would show to be true: the Babylonians are the ones that are gaining a lot of power and seizing nations. The book of Jeremiah is within the time of Habakkuk, and therefore their prophecies
Cited: 1. Anderson, Bernhard W. "Habakkuk’s Watchtower of Faith." Understanding the Old Testament. 5th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2007. N. pag. Print. 2. Brown, Raymond Edward., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1990. Print. 3. Oates, Joan. Babylon. London: Thames and Hudson, 1979. Print. 4. The New Interpreter 's Dictionary of the Bible. Vol. 2. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2006. Print. D-H. -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. “Habakkuk” 261. [ 2 ]. 2Understanding the Old Testament Fifth Edition. “Habakkuk’s Watchtower of Faith” 353. [ 3 ]. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. “Habakkuk” 262 [ 4 ]. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary “Habakkuk” 262. [ 5 ]. The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible “Habakkuk, Book of” 708