A Creative “Modernizing” of the Book of Habakkuk–What would its message be if modernized for America?

Chances are that virtually no one reading this post is an “expert” in the minor prophets. In fact, if we were being totally honest, aside from a few more famous verses among the Old Testament prophets, most people’s eyes quickly glaze over if and when they try to actually sit down and read, let’s say, Obadiah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk…you get the picture. Don’t lie—they’re not tops on your reading list!

I’ve found that the main reason people can’t stay with it when they try to read the prophets is because they have no concept of the historical setting in which each prophet lived and prophesied. Again, when it comes to the prophets, most people have this over-generalized idea of “some ancient guys in bed sheets spouting things about Israel doing bad stuff and how God was angry about it…and oh, predictions of Jesus!” Isaiah? Malachi? Haggai? They all lived “back then…whatever.” Of course, Isaiah and Haggai lived literally centuries apart. And Hosea and Joel? Not only centuries apart, but completely different kingdoms (actually Joel was post-exilic, so there wasn’t even a kingdom!). Grouping them all together in some indistinct past would be like saying, “Oh, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Christopher Columbus? You know, those guys, in America!” with no sense of the historical time between them. If you don’t know their actual historical time period, you won’t understand them.

Another reason reading the prophets is hard is that it is hard to relate to them, besides, a lot of the prophecies sound kind of the same: God is mad, Israel is sinning, judgment! Repent! Sinners, you’re bad! But again, if you don’t know that historical context, its hard to understand just how particular prophecies would have related to that particular time in Israel’s history. And because most people can’t do that, it obviously becomes impossible to “apply” those prophecies to us today.

When I teach the Old Testament prophets to my college students, I hammer home the historical timeline of ancient Israel and Judah so that my students can, in fact, plug the various prophets into their respective historical periods. And then I also take the time to actually read major sections of the prophets and actually teach them how to read them by pointing out literary devices, poetic imagery, and how certain references would have related to that time period—and sometimes, I give a “modern equivalent” to drive home the shocking nature of what the prophet is saying.

And so, for fun, I thought I’d briefly do that here in this post…with Habakkuk! Enjoy!

The Background on Habakkuk
Habakkuk was a 7^th century BC prophet who probably prophesied somewhere early in the reign of King Josiah. Now, Josiah was only eight years old when he had become king in 640 BC. Assyria was the major superpower in the region and Judah had been under the boot of Assyria for about 100 years. Josiah’s grandfather was Manasseh, considered to be one of the worst, most pagan kings in Judah’s history. So basically, by the time Josiah became king, (1) Judah had been dominated by Assyria for 100 years, and (2) the leadership in Judah was extremely corrupt and basically pagan. It wasn’t until 627 BC, when the last great Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal, died that Josiah (then 20 years old) decided to renovate the Temple of YHWH. And then in 621 BC, when they found the Book of the Law, that is when Josiah ushered in his major religious reforms to try to turn Judah back to YHWH. All that said, early on in Josiah’s reign, when Habakkuk probably prophesied, things were looking pretty grim.

What we find in the Book of Habakkuk is basically a conversation between Habakkuk and YHWH. Habakkuk complains to YHWH about how corrupt and sinful Judah had become, and YHWH responds by telling Habakkuk that He’s going to deal with Judah real soon by allowing Babylon to invade the region and decimate Judah. It was soon after King Ashurbanipal of Assyria died that Babylon declared its independence in 626 BC. Within 20 years, Babylon had destroyed the Assyrian empire and had become the new major superpower. And indeed, by 587 BC, Babylon had destroyed Judah as well.

In any case, when Habakkuk is told that YHWH was going to use Babylon has His mode of punishment of Judah, Habakkuk is taken aback—how could a holy and righteous God use such an evil nation to bring about His purposes? YHWH assures Habakkuk that eventually Babylon would be punished for its evil as well, but in the meantime, YHWH was in control, Babylon was His wooden spoon, and Judah was going to get spanked, big time. Things were going to get rough, so Habakkuk needed to put his trust in YHWH and live by faith.

That’s basically what the Book of Habakkuk is about. It wrestles with the question of God’s sovereignty and the way He uses nations for His purposes. The ultimate conclusion of Habakkuk is that evil nations like Babylon rise and fall, and yet YHWH is sovereign over all nations and can use them—even the evil ones—to bring about His purposes. In theory, that makes sense. But let’s face it, put yourself in the sandals of Habakkuk, and that it a tough pill to swallow. You’ve been told that a really horrible, evil empire is going to obliterate your country. Is that hard to comprehend? Let’s creatively modernize the Book of Habakkuk and imagine what the message would sound like if Habakkuk was an American living in the 21^st century.

A Creative Re-telling of Habakkuk
Habakkuk:
“Lord, how long are you going to put up with all the corruption in America? I’ve been asking you to deal with it for some time now, and it’s like you don’t care! The corruption in D.C., politicians ignoring the real problems facing the poor and middle class who are getting crushed by their horrible policies. Democrats and Republicans alike—they like to quote certain Bible verses that push their own agendas in order to get more power for themselves. They like photo-ops in front of churches and getting pictures of themselves kneeling in prayer for George Floyd, but then do nothing to actually help fix the problems facing the nation. They only spark further division and enact policies that make things worse! How much longer are you going to let the rich and powerful continue to crush people?” (Habakkuk 1:1-4)

YHWH:
“Oh, don’t worry, Habakkuk! America is going to get spanked big time really soon! All those policies of politicians that decimated the working class by shipping jobs overseas, all those deals that enriched and empowered themselves at the expense of the poor, they’re all going to come back upon their heads when I allow China to become the major world superpower! Yes, China! That oppressive, totalitarian Communist regime who still uses concentration camps! I’m going to let them come in and destroy America! They’ll soon invade and do to every American city what they are doing to Hong Kong. And yes, they’ll be camps, so many camps! Millions of Americans are going to suffer, be tortured, and killed. Get ready…America will pay for its corruption and sin. And yes, many of your so-called “Christian leaders” will be held to account, too! They were supposed to properly teach the Gospel and display truly Christ-like lives, but instead many of them have been corrupted themselves, either with their own fame and power, or their choosing to ally themselves more with the political elite than with Christ!” (Habakkuk 1:5-11)

Habakkuk:
“Wait a second! Time out! China??? You’re going to use China to punish America? China is a hundred times worse than America! I mean, yes, the corruption in America is bad; yes, I want to see you push the corrupt leaders in America—but China? How can you do that? You’re holy and righteous! How can you use a Communist regime like China? They’ll kill your followers here in America too! How can you do that? How is that just? ….I’m waiting for an answer!” (Habakkuk 1:12-2:2)

YHWH:
“Make no mistake, Habakkuk. I’m in charge…and China is coming to destroy America. America must pay for its corruption. Its leaders have made their bed with China, and now they are going to be ravaged in that bed. What you need to do is live by faith—stay faithful to me, despite seeing the coming judgment to America. Those faithful to me will suffer, but ultimately, I will deliver them. Eventually, China is going to suffer and be destroyed as well for the violence and destruction they have inflicted on their own people and the world. I will not let them go unpunished. You’re right—they are godless. Yes, Communism has been the most godless and genocide system in the history of the world. It won’t last much longer. But before I deal with that, America must bear the consequences for its sins.” (Habakkuk 2:3-20)

Habakkuk:
“YHWH is the creator. He is all-powerful. He has the power to create, and thus has the power to de-create. I see that America is going to see the end of the world as it knows it. I understand its time is up. It scares me to think of what Communist China is going to do, but I will have faith that YHWH is in control and that eventually He will redeem His creation after He has put an end to evil for good. Despite the fact I see the country I’ve loved falling apart, I will stay faithful and rejoice in the God of my salvation.

…but man, I can tell this is going to hurt.” (Habakkuk 3:1-19).