Habakkuk, whose name comes from the Hebrew verb habaq, "embrace," is the prophet who clings to God whatever happens to his nation. Nothing else is known of him personally, but he wrote shortly before the Babylonian invasion, probably around 606 BC, in a transitional time after Josiah's reforms had collapsed under the godless Jehoiakim. He cried out against violence and perverted justice, then learned that God was raising up the Chaldeans to scourge Judah. This raised a second dilemma: how could a holy God use a people more wicked than Judah as His instrument? Habakkuk dealt with the problem by stopping to think, restating basic truths about God (everlasting, holy, sovereign, faithful), applying them to the situation, and concluding that the invasion must be a tool for correcting and purifying God's people. Where reasoning ran out, he committed the matter to God in faith. He stood on his watchtower, detached from the problem, expecting God's answer and persisting until it came. God's answer was that He would judge Babylon too, and meanwhile "the just shall live by his faith," a text Paul quotes in Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews. Habakkuk is therefore the prophet of faith, and he learned that God is Lord of history, working out His plan and timetable for the sake of His Kingdom and His own people. He ends with a hymn of faith, rejoicing in the Lord even if the fig tree does not blossom and the fields yield no food.

Habakkuk is an honest, open-minded prophet who wrestles with issues that test his faith and brings his questions directly to God. He begins by complaining about Israel's sin and God's apparent slowness, then is perplexed that God would use the wicked Chaldeans to punish a people more righteous than they. God's answer, summarized in Habakkuk 2:4, is that the just shall live by faith. Habakkuk then moves from mystery, questioning, and complaint to certainty, affirmation, and confidence. His final prayer-psalm in chapter 3 is a formal, carefully composed prayer that models effective prayer: humility, worship, and requests in line with God's will. He stops comparing Israel with Babylon, fixes his eyes on God's holiness, and asks God to revive His work and, in wrath, remember mercy. Though the coming invasion leaves him trembling with fear, he overcomes it by recalling God's mighty acts in the Exodus and conquest and God's faithfulness to His promises. Knowledge of God, not emotion or reason, carries him through. He ends with the triumphant declaration that though every blessing fail, he will rejoice in the God of his salvation. His name, from the Hebrew habaq, "embrace," fits him, for he chooses to cling to God whatever happens. His book speaks directly to believers facing national decline and coming tribulation.

Habakkuk wrestles with how a holy God can use the bloody, ruthless Chaldean-Babylonians to chastise Judah. Rather than falling into cynicism, he waits upon the Eternal for an answer and proves himself a faithful servant. His prophecy is unique in its approach: instead of speaking directly to Judah as God's spokesman, he relates how God's message first came to him and answered the questions that puzzled him, a technique matched only, possibly, by Daniel. God's answer is that the proud sinner will be condemned while the righteous live by faith. The answer takes the form of a taunt song in chapter 2, with five woes sung by the oppressed nations against the Chaldean oppressor. These woes expose the emptiness of a nation that thinks it can do without God: greed, covetous self-exaltation, bloody exploitation, seduction and corruption, and idolatry. Each sin brings its own reversal, since the plunderer will be plundered and what man builds without God cannot last. Habakkuk is contemporary in what he describes, because the same insecurity drives people today to trust possessions, status, and idols rather than God. God gave him three assurances: His grace (2:4), His glory covering the earth (2:14), and His government, as the Lord is in His holy temple and all the earth must keep silence (2:20). Having grasped these, Habakkuk was transformed from a worrier and watcher into a faithful worshipper and servant, and he sings a psalm of holy rejoicing in chapter 3, recalling past acts in which God vindicated His righteousness and sovereignty.

Habakkuk was the prophet at the time of the events described. He does not appear anywhere else in Scripture and removes himself almost entirely from the book. He was an obscure man with no extraneous details given about his pedigree or background. He may have been a Levite and one of the singers or musicians in the temple because he writes a song in the third chapter. His name seems to be a foreign word that is not Hebrew and may be an Acadian word meaning embracer or one who wrestles. This meaning fits his actions because he embraces God and wrestles for answers without letting go. The book was probably written between 610 BC and 600 BC during the reign of Jehoiakim after Nineveh fell to the Babylonians. Habakkuk loved his people and nation and cried out to God about the violence and sin in the land. He asked two questions of God and received answers that addressed his concerns. He then offered a prayer of praise in the third chapter as his response. Habakkuk sighed and cried over the corruption around him and questioned why God would use the Chaldeans to punish Judah. His faith was shaken by the answer but he chose to wait patiently for further understanding. In the end he expressed faith and joy after grasping what God had revealed.