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Perek Yomi - Habakkuk

by Rabbi Robert Layman

Perhaps one of the most striking features of this book is the peculiarity of the Prophet's name. It does not follow the familiar pattern of Biblical Hebrew and may be derived from another Semitic language In Hebrew it is pronounced Ha-VA-kuk and Rabbinic sources relate it to the verb havak, meaning "to embrace".

Habakkuk is another virtually anonymous Prophet. The assumption is made, based on his pronouncements concerning the Chaldeans, that he preached toward the end of the Sixth Century B.C.E. He raises the age-old question, " why do the wicked prosper?" and he discerns an answer in the forthcoming onslaught of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) against Judah as divine retribution. At the same time, he views the Chaldeans as the enemy. His plaintive tone is combined with his praise of God.

The third and final chapter of this brief book is written in the style of a Psalm and is the source of speculation about the unity of the book and its authorship. Its tone is completely different from that of the preceding chapters. God is glorified as a warrior emerging from the south, trampling His enemies and unleashing the forces of nature. The book ends on a note of personal exultation.

Rabbinic tradition read 3:3 as a reference to Mount Sinai and thus designated the last chapter of Habakkuk as the Haftarah for the second day of Shavuot, the holiday that commemorates the Revelation at Sinai.

Chapter 1

  1. Is there any identification whatsoever of the time, the place, or the ancestry of Habakkuk?
  2. Verse 1 uses the term "massa" -- is this another term for vision? For prophecy? For pronouncement?
  3. What is the plaint of the prophet to the Divine?
  4. Does verse 3 inquire as to why God is "inactive"?
  5. What, according to the prophet, is the consequence of the prevalence of violence and "evil-doing"?
  6. Verse 5 appears to be an answer from God; it continues in verse 6; what is the Divine about to do?
  7. And will the force aroused by this action be potent and overwhelming?
  8. But, if called upon to "do away with evil" how, then, explain verse 11?
  9. Does verse 12 indicate that the prophet is affirming that the Chaldeans were to be "an instrument of God" but that presently the instrument, having become vile,would then, itself, be destroyed?
  10. According to verse 13 can the Divine "tolerate" injustice and -- if it cannot, what is the question that the prophet asks?
  11. Does the chapter end with a resolution of this seeming tension between the nature of Divinity and the prophet's description of Divine action?

Chapter 2

  1. What is the attitude of the prophet in the first verse, patience or restiveness?
  2. The Divine answer begins in verse 2 and it calls for a written recording -- for what purpose?
  3. Is there a future, then, for prophecy (verse 3)?
  4. Does verse 4 indicate that, in the last analysis, the righteous will "live"?
  5. And, according to verse 5 what is to become of the "treacherous, arrogant individual"?
  6. What will the "public opinion" be of the charlatan?
  7. And what shall become of the economic predator (verse 7)?
  8. But, is it an individual that is described in these verses or is it a country (verse 8); and, if a country which country?
  9. Might verses 9, 10, 11 and 12, then, actually refer to Chaldea?
  10. Whether or not the text refers to individuals or to a nation, what is the "cup in the right hand of God" (verse 16) and what does it imply?
  11. Verse 17 makes reference to "lawlessness against Lebanon" -- would this affirm, then, that the condemnatory verses refer to a nation rather than individuals?
  12. But, in verse 18 and verse 19 -- the reference to idols would appear to be directed towards the nation or towards individuals?
  13. How would verse 20 relate to the preceding verses in comparative terms?

Chapter 3

  1. The term shigyonot is unusual; in the context of this chapter could it mean "supplication"?
  2. To whom is the tefillah addressed?
  3. How might the phrase "God comes from Teman" be understood?
  4. Why might there be no reference here to Sinai?
  5. In verse 4 is the identificationof the Divine with light or with darkness?
  6. Does verse 5 indicate that the Divine (poetically) is immune to any force?
  7. In verse 10, as part of the description of the Divine, reference is made to "the roaring of the deep" -- is there another meaning for "tehom"?
  8. Following the description of the Divine in these terms, what is the purpose of "God's emergence" (verse 13)?
  9. How does the prophet react to the vision of the Divine (verse 16)?
  10. Verse 17 indicates a "failure of nature" -- and how does this relate to the closing refrains of verses 18 and 19?
  11. Would the prophet be asserting that, irrespective, his faith in the Divine is unshaken, circumstance and event to the contrary notwithstanding?
  12. Why would this particular passage be read on the second day of Shavuot as the haftarah?
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