The Expectant Prophet: Habakkuk simply explained

Welwyn Commentary #33

by John D. Currid

The days in which Habakkuk preached were a dark time for the church in the Old Testament. God's people were suffering at the hands of others in the community, and the law of God was being sidelined in society. It was about to get worse! Why would God allow this? The author shows how Habakkuk teaches the sovereignty of God in a way not found in any other book of the Bible. The days in which Habakkuk preached were a dark time for the church in the Old Testament. God's people were suffering at the hands of others in the community, and the law of God was being sidelined in society. The prophet questions why God would allow such things to happen and to continue. Why is God not doing something about the suffering and injustice? Habakkuk learns that the just shall live by faith, even though the covenant nation itself is about to be destroyed, and the prophecy ends with a psalm of joyful praise to God. And so we learn, right along with the prophet, that no matter what is swirling around us, good or ill, we are to place our full trust in the sovereign Lord of the universe. We learn of the different genres of literature in the prophecy, wisdom, lamentation, complaint, psalmody. It is, what the author calls, 'a menagerie of genres'. Ultimately, this is about God's full control over, and care for, his people.

Genres: Theology

142 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Dr. Currid has been part of the RTS Faculty for 20 years, serving as both Chair of the Biblical Studies Division in Jackson and Professor of Old Testament in Charlotte. Prior to coming to RTS, he served as Associate Professor of Religion at Grove City College. He is currently an adjunct faculty member at the Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies in Jerusalem, Israel. Dr. Currid serves as Project Director of the Bethsaida Excavations Project in Israel (1995-present). He lectures and preaches in many countries including Russia, Ukraine, Great Britain, Australia, and Brazil.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent commentary on the Old testament Book of Habakkuk. John Currid is an Old Testament scholar with expertise in Biblical Archaeology and Biblical Hebrew. He is really helpful with one or two tricky texts in hebrew, most notably in Habakkuk 2v4, the key text in the book. His illustrations are excellent and quotable.

[Laurie Hetherington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent resource, well written, easy to understand. I appreciated the insights I gained as I used this commentary, along with 3 others, to supplement my study of Habakkuk.

[Will Adair · Rating 5 out of 5]

A professor at RTS has written a exegetical commentary on the prophet Habakkuk. Particularly helpful is the scriptural cross references and textual background that makes up this remarkable prophetic work that is unique in the prophetic books of the Old Testament. Some readers may not like his historic commentary as application points but I found them very interesting.