The Book of Habakkuk Introduction

The prophecy of Habakkuk differs from other prophecies inasmuch as it makes no direct appeal to Israel or the nations, nor is any specific date given for its utterance. It is, however, evident that Habakkuk lived in a day when the people of God had utterly failed, with the result that God's hand was upon them in governmental judgment.

The prophecy takes the form of an intercourse between the prophet and the LORD, in which the prophet, overwhelmed in spirit by all the failure amongst the people of God, casts his burden upon the LORD, to find that he is, not only sustained by the LORD in his sorrow (Ps. 55: 22), but is brought to rejoice in the LORD in high places (Hab. 3: 18, 19).