Who is Habakkuk?

ChubbyCherub said:

Does anyone else know anything else about him? Where did he come from? Why was he a prophet? What made him special in the eyes of God?

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The kicker is, both times Habakkuk appears, it’s nearly the same passage: different verses from Chapter 1 of the Book of Habakkuk paired with the same verses from Chapter 2. It’s unfair, considering this prophet only gets two shots at speaking to us. Maybe we’re not missing much. Habakkuk’s prophecies are only three chapters long, which means you can become an expert on his writings pretty quickly. Not so with Isaiah, whose thought encompasses 66 chapters. By comparison, Habakkuk’s a fellow who gets to the point.

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LIFE

Almost nothing is known about Habakkuk, aside from what is stated within the book of the Bible bearing his name, or those inferences that may be drawn from that book.[3] No biographical details are provided other than his title "the prophet".[4]

For almost every other prophet, more information is given, such as the name of the prophet's hometown, his occupation, or information concerning his parentage or tribe.[13] For Habakkuk, however, there is no reliable account of any of these.[14] Although his home is not identified, scholars conclude that Habakkuk lived in Jerusalem at the time he wrote his prophecy.[15] Further analysis has provided an approximate date for his prophecy and possibilities concerning his activities and background.

Beyond the Bible, considerable conjecture has been put forward over the centuries in the form of Christian and Rabbinic tradition, but such accounts are dismissed by modern scholars as speculative and apocryphal.[5][6]

The Septuagint translation of Daniel in the Codex Chisianus refers to him as "the son of Jesus of the tribe of Levi".[16]

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Date

The prophecy is to be dated sometime after the Babylonians became an active threat against Judah but before their destruction of the city of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. Habukkuk's serious complaints about violent injustice among the people in Judah suggests sometimes in the reign of Jehoiakim (609-597 BCE), a king despised by Jeremiah for his abuse of power at the cost of much suffering by the poor and defenseless. Jeremiah declares that he will be given the "burial of an ass" (Jer 22:12-19); (see also 2 Kgs 23:37). Certainly chapter 3 qualifies Habbukuk to be numbered among the "cult prophets", who functioned at the temple; chapters 1-2 may leave some clues for a liturgical ceremony.

Themes

Several major religious motifs thread their way through the prophecy: God's absolute trustworthiness; God's control of the universe; our inability to understand adequately the mysterious ways of God; our failure to fathom the mysteries fo the universe and the colossal struggles of nature and politics; God's detemination not to tolerate violence, begotten by pride

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