4. An account of the time in which he prophesied. Whether he lived in the time of Manasseh or Jehoiakim?
At what time Habakkuk discharged the office of teaching, is not sufficiently evident. The Hebrews, following their ancient Chronology, do indeed place him in the times of Manasseh, because the Prophet not only complains of all right and law having been overturned, but also pronounces the ruin of the kingdom of Judah and the immanent Babylonian captivity. All which satisfactorily agree with the times of Manasseh. Nevertheless, it is possible, that he lived even later, perhaps in the time of Jehoiakim, which the Most Learned Ussher, on the Year of the World 3395, gathered from the words of God to the Prophet, Habakkuk 1:5, 6, I work a work in your days, which ye will not believe: For, lo, I am going to raise up the Chaldeans, a nation most bitter and hasty, etc. Whence it is evident, that in those very days, in which they were yet surviving, concerning whose wickedness and obstinacy the Prophet was complaining, indeed, soon after the complaint, the Chaldeans were sent. But the Chaldeans were sent in the third year of King Jehoiakim, Daniel 1:1. Therefore, this Prophet was both a diplomat, sent to declare war upon the impious Jews and the enemies of the pious, especially the Chaldeans: and a envoy for the pious, asking for peace for them from God.