049. I. The Date Of The Prophecy

I THE DATE OF THE PROPHECY

Respecting the date of the short prophecy which bears the superscription, “The Oracle which Habakkuk the Prophet did see,” neither the title nor contemporary records give any testimony. The distinct reference to the Chaldeans, in the first chapter, as an active world-power, with which the Judeans are already well acquainted, indicates that it must be later than the great battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C., when the supremacy of southwestern Asia passed for the first time into the hands of these new conquerors. The same chapter reflects the amazement and horror with which the people of Palestine viewed the rapid advance of the Chaldeans. There is little doubt, therefore, that the present prophecy comes from the closing years of the seventh century B. C. The conditions in Judah, referred to in the opening verses, are those which we know resulted from the weak, reactionary policy of the selfish Jehoiakim. The prophet was one of that remarkable group of inspired workers who, like Jeremiah, had witnessed the glorious reformation of Josiah and the peace and prosperity which followed in its train, and who had survived to see all that glory swept away and their beloved land spoiled by foes from within and from without As a patriot and a faithful follower of Jehovah, he voices the cry of anguish and doubt which must at that time have burst from many lips; as an inspired prophet, he answers that cry with the firm assurance of faith. The lyric ode, preserved in the third chapter, and dedicated “to Habakkuk the prophet,” has so many affinities, in language and in thought, with post-exilic psalms, that it is regarded by many as the work of a later writer. Whether the conclusion be accepted or not, it must be admitted that it completes the thought of the book, and therefore amply justifies its present position. In sublimity of thought and of diction, it is surpassed by few passages in the Old Testament