How Long, Habakkuk? Trivia Quiz

Answer: must Habakkuk cry for help?

In verse 1:2, the prophet asks "How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?" Habakkuk asks this brazen question of the Lord, and is secure enough in his relationship that he awaits the answer. He is a little surprised by the Lord's plan, however.

Answer: Utter amazement

In verse 1:5, The Lord answers that Habakkuk should "Look at the nations and watch - and be utterly amazed." As the Lord says in Isaiah 55:8, "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," and his plans for Judah as outlined in the book of Habakkuk are not the plans the nation would have devised.

Answer: Sending the Babylonians in judgment

In verse 1:6, the Lord says he is raising up the Babylonians, or Chaldeans in other translations. We know that indeed Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar II attacked Judah, sacking Jerusalem in 597 BC - the king Jehoiachin was exiled with his court to Babylon and Zedekiah was installed as a puppet king.

There was a later siege of the city and the temple was burned. This marked the period known as the Babylonian captivity; the exiled finally returned to rebuild Jerusalem under Persian rule by Cyrus the Great, as retold in the book of Ezra.

Answer: How can the Lord look upon such evil?

Judah was rife with evil during the prophet's time, but that paled in comparison to the evil rampant in Babylon, so Habakkuk is confused by the Lord's choice to send that evil empire against Judah. The Lord has a plan, of course, and the second chapter outlines his understanding of the sins of Babylon and his plans for them after the scourging of Judah.

Answer: the ramparts

All four of these locations appear in key Bible passages, but it is the ramparts where Habakkuk awaits the Lord's answer. Vineyards appear often, frequently as a metaphor representing Israel as a nation/people. The temple is both a physical location and a metaphor for God's ultimate dwelling place within believers.

The threshing floor is where Boaz chose to become Ruth's "kinsman redeemer," securing their place in the lineage of Jesus.

Answer: Romans

Romans 1:17 repeats this verse from Habakkuk 2:4 - indeed, this is a central theological construct in Christianity, that steadfast faith in the Lord is a hallmark of righteousness and the key to salvation. This verse from Habakkuk is also repeated in Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:37-38. This reliance on God rather than our own efforts is further echoed in Habakkuk chapter 3.

Answer: Woe

This chapter includes the "five woes," outlining the Lord's plan for the Babylonians and listing their sins. In 2:6-8, the first woe is pronounced for Babylon's plundering of many nations and destroying the people, land and cities. The second woe, 2:9-11 outlines "unjust gain," the third (2:12-14) details their bloodshed.

The fourth woe (2:15-17) describes prurience and violence. The final woe (2:18-20) condemns idolatry and concludes with the reminder that "the Lord is in his holy temple."

Answer: Prayer of praise

The final chapter of Habakkuk is a prayer of praise, with musical notation suggesting it was used as a psalm. In this prayer, Habakkuk expresses his steadfast faith in the Lord, specifically mentioning that he will rejoice in the Lord even when times are grim.

Answer: Deer

Habakkuk states that "he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights."

We only have meaningful conversations with those with whom we have meaningful relationships - this book shows the depth of Habakkuk's faith that he is comfortable questioning the Lord and patiently waits for the answer, maintaining his trust in the Lord's goodness.

Answer: Zephaniah

The order of the books of the Bible is a human invention in an attempt to group them into types of literature and some degree of chronology. The minor prophets are grouped together at the end of the Old Testament, which in Christian thought is in part due to the fulfillment of some prophecies by the advent of Jesus.

Habakkuk is thought to have been written before the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem, so likely in the final portion of the 7th century BC or early in the 6th. In the Hebrew canon, the minor prophets are in the Nevi'im alongside the longer prophetic books, but by the Greek Septaguint the order was rearranged and that pattern was adopted by early Christian scholars. Habakkuk is flanked by Nahum before the book and Zephaniah after; Malachi is the final book of the minor prophets and Obadiah appears earlier in the group.