Habakkuk 2:1 to 4 · Subject · Featured Study
The Vision That Waits for Its Appointed Time
Habakkuk was told to write a vision on tablets and to wait for its appointed time.
Anonymous Russian icon painter, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Jonah, from the iconostasis of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, 1497. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
THE ARTWORKThe icon painter set three prophets side by side on a gold ground, each with an open scroll of his words.
Six centuries later, the letter to the Hebrews read the same lines as a promise that He who is coming will come.
Summary
Habakkuk 2:1 to 4 records the prophet's watch and the LORD's reply to his two complaints about the wicked.
- Habakkuk asked how long he must call for help and why God is silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves.
- The Hebrew word for the appointed time, mo'ed, means a fixed time or season, and Daniel joins it to the end as Habakkuk does.
- The vision's first words set the proud one against the righteous, who will live by faith.
- Hebrews 10:37 to 38 quotes the vision to call its readers to persevere.
The Complaint and the Answer
Seven verses carry the complaint, the watch, the vision and the waiting.
How long, O LORD, must I call for help but You do not hear, or cry out to You, “Violence!” but You do not save?The first complaint asks how long a cry of violence will go unanswered, the question the vision answers.
Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?The second complaint moves from the violence in Judah to the Chaldeans whom God has raised up, and asks how a holy God can use a people more wicked than the one He judges.
I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the ramparts. I will watch to see what He will say to me, and how I should answer when corrected.This verse moves the book from the prophet's complaint to the LORD's answer.
Then the LORD answered me: “Write down this vision and clearly inscribe it on tablets, so that a herald may run with it.The answer comes as a command, so the prophet who asked becomes the one who records the reply.
For the vision awaits an appointed time; it testifies of the end and does not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and will not delay.The tablet of verse 2 has to last, because what is written on it must keep until its time comes.
Look at the proud one; his soul is not upright—but the righteous will live by faith—The vision opens with the verdict that decides who will stand while the answer waits.
I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the people who invade us.By the close of the book the prophet has taken the command to heart and resolves to wait patiently.
Three other prophets who waitIsaiah 8:17, Micah 7:7 and Lamentations 3:26
I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in Him.Isaiah waits for the LORD while He hides His face, as Habakkuk waits through God's seeming silence.
But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.After naming a land with no one upright left in it, Micah resolves to wait for God, as Habakkuk does after his complaint.
It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.Written while the ruins of Jerusalem were fresh, the poem holds that waiting is good even after the judgment Habakkuk foresaw.
The Appointed Time and the End
Five verses from three prophets tie what they foresee to a time God has set.
| Verse | What waits | Its words on the time |
|---|---|---|
| Habakkuk 2:3 | The vision | The vision awaits an appointed time |
| Daniel 8:19 | The latter time of wrath | It concerns the appointed time of the end |
| Daniel 11:27 | The end of the two kings' plotting | The end will come at the appointed time |
| Daniel 11:35 | The time of the end | It will still come at the appointed time |
| Ezekiel 12:25 | Whatever word the LORD speaks | It will be fulfilled without delay |
- Verse
- Habakkuk 2:3
- What waits
- The vision
- Its words on the time
- The vision awaits an appointed time
- Verse
- Daniel 8:19
- What waits
- The latter time of wrath
- Its words on the time
- It concerns the appointed time of the end
- Verse
- Daniel 11:27
- What waits
- The end of the two kings' plotting
- Its words on the time
- The end will come at the appointed time
- Verse
- Daniel 11:35
- What waits
- The time of the end
- Its words on the time
- It will still come at the appointed time
- Verse
- Ezekiel 12:25
- What waits
- Whatever word the LORD speaks
- Its words on the time
- It will be fulfilled without delay
What the Text Says and What Is Often Said
Three common readings of the command to write and to wait, each set beside its verse.
A SIGN TO READ AT A RUN
Habakkuk 2:2 is often quoted as a call for a sign large enough to read while running. The Berean text reads that a herald may run with it, so the written vision is carried to others.
A DELAY MEANS THE VISION FAILED
Ezekiel's hearers said that the days go by and every vision fails. The LORD answered that none of His words would be delayed any longer, and Habakkuk 2:3 says the vision does not lie.
WAITING MEANS DOING NOTHING
Habakkuk waits on his feet at a guard post, watching for an answer. James gives the same picture in a farmer who awaits the precious fruit of the soil.
Who runs with the tabletHabakkuk 2:2
John Wesley, in his Explanatory Notes of 1765, held that the words were to be written so plainly that no one need stop to read them. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary of 1832, held that the reader runs to save his life when the Chaldeans come. Grotius and Maurer, as Jamieson, Fausset and Brown report them in 1871, took run to mean reading the tablet through at once.
Rashi's account of the watchRashi on Habakkuk 2:1
Rashi was a French Jewish commentator of the eleventh century. He records that Habakkuk dug a circular hole, stood within it, and would not budge until the reply to his question came.
Habakkuk's Years and Babylon's
The book is usually placed between about 609 and 598 BC, as Babylon rose to rule the region.
Habakkuk most likely prophesied in the reign of Jehoiakim, after Josiah was killed at Megiddo in 609 BC. The date is inferred from Habakkuk 1:6, where the LORD says He is raising up the Chaldeans, and is not stated.
Babylon itself fell to Cyrus of Persia in October 539 BC, about seventy years after Habakkuk's day.
In that world a notice meant for the public was written on tablets of stone or wood and set up to be read. Isaiah too was told, in Isaiah 30:8, to write on a tablet, so that his word would stand as a witness for the days to come.
concerning Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah:The battle that made Babylon master of the region falls within the years given for Habakkuk's book.
The Words of the Vision
Six Hebrew words carry the vision, its time and the waiting.
CHAZON (HEBREW, H2377)
A noun for a sight seen in the mind, a revelation or an oracle; it names the vision Habakkuk is told to write.
MO'ED (HEBREW, H4150)
A noun for an appointment, a fixed time or season; it is the appointed time the vision awaits.
QETS (HEBREW, H7093)
A noun for an extremity, the end of which the vision testifies.
PUACH (HEBREW, H6315)
A verb meaning to puff or blow with the breath; the Berean renders it testifies, and Maurer, as Jamieson, Fausset and Brown report him on this verse, read it as panting for the end.
CHAKAH (HEBREW, H2442)
A verb glossed properly to adhere to; the Berean renders it wait, in the command to wait for the vision.
'EMUNAH (HEBREW, H530)
A noun glossed literally firmness; the Berean renders it faith, the faith by which the righteous live.
What the Text Leaves Unsaid
Four matters Habakkuk 2 and Hebrews 10 leave unanswered.
The chapter gives no date for the appointed time, and no reckoning of it can be drawn from its words.
It never says how long Habakkuk stood at his post before the answer came.
It names no words for the tablets beyond those that follow the command to write.
Hebrews leaves unstated what Habakkuk himself understood by the vision.
Where the Vision Points
Hebrews, Romans, Galatians and Second Peter take up the vision and its delay.
The letter to the Hebrews quotes Habakkuk 2:3 to 4 from the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint.
For, “In just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay.Hebrews sets the words in just a little while before the promise, words Habakkuk 2:3 lacks, so the wait is shown to be short.
But My righteous one will live by faith; and if he shrinks back, I will take no pleasure in him.”Hebrews keeps Habakkuk's two ways, the righteous who live by faith and the one who shrinks back.
The same line, the righteous will live by faith, stands at Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11, so the vision's first words became a text the gospel is argued from.
Second Peter answers scoffers who ask where the promise of His coming is.
The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.The delay the scoffers mock is the Lord's patience, which leaves room for repentance.
The Greek of Habakkuk 2:3 to 4Jerome, Commentary on Habakkuk
Jerome set the Hebrew and the Greek side by side. Where the Hebrew says the vision will surely come, the Septuagint reads that he will come, and where the Hebrew reads his faith, the Septuagint reads my faith.
Voices on the Vision
Six teachers, from Clement of Rome to Charles Spurgeon, on the delay, the written vision, the coming of Christ and the line the righteous live by.
Clement of Rome on those who grew old waiting
“The all-merciful and beneficent Father has [a heart for] those who fear him, and kindly and lovingly he bestows his favors upon those who come to him with a simple mind. Therefore let us not be double-minded; neither let our soul be lifted up on account of his exceedingly great and glorious gifts. Far from us be that which is written, ‘Wretched are they who are of a double mind and of a doubting heart; who say, 'These things we have heard even in the times of our fathers, but, behold, we have grown old, and none of them has happened unto us.' ‘ You foolish ones! Compare yourselves with a tree; take the vine. First of all, it sheds its leaves, then it buds, next it puts forth leaves, and then it flowers; afterwards comes the sour grape, and then follows the ripened fruit. You perceive how in a little time the fruit of a tree comes to maturity. Of a truth, soon and suddenly shall his will be accomplished, as the Scripture also bears witness, saying, ‘Speedily will he come, and will not tarry,’ and ‘The Lord shall suddenly come to his temple, even the holy one, for whom you look.’”
Clement of Rome · 1 CLEMENT 23 · on Habakkuk 2:2 to 3Patristic
Augustine on the advent the vision foretold
“Of what else than the advent of Christ, who was to come, is Habakkuk understood to say, ‘And the Lord answered me, and said, 'Write the vision openly on a tablet of boxwood so that the one who reads these things may understand.' ‘ For the vision is yet for a time appointed, and it will arise in the end, and it will not become void. If it delays, wait for it, because it will surely come and will not be delayed.”
Augustine of Hippo · City of God 18.31 · on Habakkuk 2:2 to 3Patristic
John Chrysostom on the little while
“He then also hinting this, what does he say? ‘Yet a little while and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.’ For lest they should say, And when will He come? He comforts them from the Scriptures. For thus also when he says in another place, ‘Now is our salvation nearer,’ he comforts them because the remaining time is short. And this he says not of himself but from the Scriptures. But if from that time it was said, ‘Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry,’ it is plain that now He is nearer. Wherefore also waiting is no small reward.”
John Chrysostom · Homily on Hebrews 21 · on Hebrews 10:37Patristic
Matthew Henry on why the vision was written
“He must write it, that he might imprint it on his own mind, and make it more clear to himself, but especially that it might be notified to those in distant places and transmitted to those in future ages. What is handed down by tradition is easily mistaken and liable to corruption; but what is written is reduced to a certainty, and preserved safe and pure.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible · on Habakkuk 2:2Puritan
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Paul's use of the prophecy
“Christ, being the grand and ultimate subject of all prophetical vision, is here made by Paul, under inspiration, the subject of the Spirit's prophecy by Habakkuk, in its final and exhaustive fulfilment.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · on Hebrews 10:36Reformed
Charles Spurgeon on the Old Testament text behind the gospel
“This text is three times employed by the Apostle Paul as an argument. Read Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38—in each of these cases it runs, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ This is the old original text to which the Apostle referred when he said, ‘As it is written, The just shall live by faith.’ We are not wrong in making the Inspiration of the Old Testament to be as important as that of the New, for the truth of the Gospel must stand or fall with that of the Prophets of the old dispensation.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1749: “A Luther Sermon at the Tabernacle” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · on Habakkuk 2:4
Where Readers Differ
Two readings of what the vision of Habakkuk 2:3 promises, each with its holders and the objection to it.
The fall of Babylon at its appointed timeRashi, Commentary on Habakkuk; Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible · Jewish Rabbinic and Protestant
Clarke reads the verse of the Chaldeans: having done their work against Judea, they would afterwards be ruined themselves.
The objection is Hebrews 10:37, which applies the verse to a coming its readers still awaited.
The coming of ChristAugustine, City of God 18.31; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on Hebrews 10:36 · the early church and Protestant
Augustine reads the vision's last fulfilment as Christ, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read it the same way, because Hebrews applies the verse to Him.
The objection is the chapter's sequel: Habakkuk 2:5 to 20 pronounces woe on a proud conqueror who will be plundered in turn, which fits Babylon.
Books to Read Next
Four works on Habakkuk 2, two sermons and two commentaries.
Watching to See, Sermon 2622
Charles Spurgeon · 1899
Spurgeon preached on Habakkuk 2:1 to 4 to those engaged in the Lord's work, starting from the prophet's perplexity.
A Luther Sermon at the Tabernacle, Sermon 1749
Charles Spurgeon · 1883
Spurgeon preached this sermon on Habakkuk 2:4 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments
Albert Barnes · 1832 to 1869
Barnes reads the appointed time of Habakkuk 2:3 beside Daniel 8:19, Daniel 10:14, Daniel 11:27 and Ezekiel 12:27.
Commentary on the Bible
Adam Clarke · 1832
Clarke treats Habakkuk 2 verse by verse, from the watch of Habakkuk 2:1 to the righteous of Habakkuk 2:4.
The Vision and the One Who Is Coming
Habakkuk 2 asks the reader to bring the complaint to God, to watch for His answer, and to live by faith while the answer waits for its time.
The Christian reader keeps the same faith while waiting for the return of Christ.
Keep studying
People9