5. There are three parts of the Prophecy: I. An announcement of the Babylonian captivity being immediately imminent (Habakkuk 1:1-11). II. A consolation of believers groaning on account of the insolence of the Chaldeans towards the people of God (Habakkuk 1:12-2:20). III. The Prophet’s prayer, wherein he seals the preceding Prophecy (Habakkuk 3). A Synoptic Table of the book, and its Interpreters, Ancient, Reformed, Lutheran, Roman Catholic.
This holy prophet of God principally pursues three things. First, he describes the immediately immanent punishment of wicked Jews (Habakkuk 1:1-11). Second, in the name of God he consoles the pious groaning on account of the successes of the enemy (Habakkuk 1:12-2:20). Third, he closes the Prophecy with prayers. Which individual parts we now attempt to elicit more particularly.
I. A denunciation of the immediately imminent Babylonian captivity, Chapter 1:1-11.
In which to the Prophet, impugning before God the deplored wickedness of the Jewish people (verses 1-4), God reveals the swift coming of the Chaldeans, a nation most bitter and hasty, and the destruction of the people to be executed by them (verses 5-11): chapter 1:1-11.
II. The consolation of believers groaning on account of the insolence of the Chaldeans towards the people of God, Chapters 1:12-2:20. See:
1. The sighs of believers, pleading for God’s vengeance against enemies, sacrificing to their own nets and exceedingly insolent (verses 12-17): chapter 1:12-17.
2. The response of God to the Prophet, bestowed in a vision, in which believers are consoled:
a. With a promised Herald, the Messiah, in the faith of whom the just are certainly going to conquer, by patient expectation (verses 1-4): chapter 2:1-4.
b. By the divine judgment decreed against persecuting enemies revealed, whom he foretells are going to pay the penalty of ambition, inhumanity, luxury, and idolatry (verses 5-20): chapter 2:5-20.
III. A prayer of the Prophet, wherewith he seals the preceding Prophecy, Chapter 3: in which:
1. He asks God to temper His wrath with mercy (verses 1, 2): chapter 3:1, 2.
2. Encouraging himself with the recollection of God’s works and promises (verses 3-17), he glories, that he, even in the worst straits, is going to exult in God, being altogether confident of his deliverance (verses 18, 19): chapter 3:3-19.