1. The author of the book is חֲבַקּוּק/Habakkuk, which denotes one embracing. The traditions concerning him are uncertain.
The author of the book is חֲבַקּוּק/Habakkuk. The Greeks read חבקום, and so call him Ἁββακοὺμ/Habbakum. The name itself denotes one embracing,[1] with Jerome also informing. Whence arose the fable of the Hebrews, that he was the בֶּן שׁוּנַמִּית, son of the Shunammite, whom Elisha resuscitated by embracing, 2 Kings 4:34. Dorotheus gives the name of his native country as Biticuchar. In the Additions to the Book of Daniel, it is said concerning him, that he, together with a repast, was transported by an Angel into Chaldea to Daniel, shut up in the den of the lions; at that very moment he departed this life, two years before the return of the people from Babylonian captivity.[2] But these things are ἄδηλα/apocryphal. Therefore, in silence do the Sacred books pass over both the native country and parents of certain writers, undoubtedly with this purpose, that the authority of the books sealed by them might be suspended, not upon the writers, but upon the Holy Spirit.
[1] חָבַק signifies to clasp, or to embrace.
[2] Bel and the Dragon 33-42: “Now there was in Jewry a prophet, called Habbacuc, who had made pottage, and had broken bread in a bowl, and was going into the field, for to bring it to the reapers. But the angel of the Lord said unto Habbacuc, Go, carry the dinner that thou hast into Babylon unto Daniel, who is in the lions’ den. And Habbacuc said, Lord, I never saw Babylon; neither do I know where the den is. Then the angel of the Lord took him by the crown, and bare him by the hair of his head, and through the vehemency of his spirit set him in Babylon over the den. And Habbacuc cried, saying, O Daniel, Daniel, take the dinner which God hath sent thee. And Daniel said, Thou hast remembered me, O God: neither hast thou forsaken them that seek thee and love thee. So Daniel arose, and did eat: and the angel of the Lord set Habbacuc in his own place again immediately. Upon the seventh day the king went to bewail Daniel: and when he came to the den, he looked in, and behold, Daniel was sitting. Then cried the king with a loud voice, saying, Great art thou, O Lord God of Daniel, and there is none other beside thee. And he drew him out, and cast those that were the cause of his destruction into the den: and they were devoured in a moment before his face.”