Old Testament Prophet Habakkuk

Prophet Habakkuk and Prophet Daniel

The Canon of the Old Testament contains one small – it has only three chapters, – but very important book for a believer; it is the Book of Prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk is one of the so-called twelve Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. By the Chaldeans, mentioned in this book, it is usually dated to between the VIIth and the VIth centuries before common era – the period of the decline of the Babylonian dominion. Deeply troubled by prevailing violence in the world, Habakkuk asks God in the first chapter of his book, “Why then do You tolerate the treacherous? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” (Habakkuk 1:13).

Prophet Habakkuk. Manuscript miniature. Middle of the XIVth century

God answered that the prosperity of the wicked should not bother the righteous man, for their punishment would eventually come upon them. “The enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright — but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness,” — speaks the Lord to Habakkuk in the second chapter (Habakkuk 2:4). Appeased by God’s answer he received, Habakkuk offered up to God a prayer with thanksgiving, which makes up the content of chapter three.

Prophet Habakkuk. Fragment of a statue. 1427-36 by Donatello. Cathedral’s Museum. Florence

In the Book of Habakkuk there is no information about him, but in the book of another prophet, Daniel, one of the episodes of his biography is narrated. Once, the prophet Habakkuk, who lived in Judea, “had made a stew and had broken bread into a bowl,” and went into a field to feed the reapers. The angel of the Lord, whom he met on his way, commanded Habakkuk to take this meal to Babylon to prophet Daniel, who was confined at that time in a lion’s den. In response to the objection of the bewildered Habakkuk (“Sir, I have never seen Babylon, and I know nothing about the den.”), the angel of the Lord “took him by the crown of his head and carried him by his hair; by the power of his spirit he set him down in Babylon, right over the den.” As soon as the food was given to Daniel, the angel immediately returned Habakkuk to his former place. (The Book of Prophet Daniel 14:33-39).

Prophet Habakkuk. Initial from the Bible. Germany. Middle Rhineland, Frankenthal, XIIth century

For this article the materials were used from The Catholic Encyclopaedia and The Popular Encyclopaedic Dictionary: Who is Who in the Bible, by A. P. Kondrashov.