Habakkuk (The Anchor Yale Bible | AYB)

by Francis I. Andersen

Publisher:

Yale University Press

, 2008

Overview

The book of Habakkuk is an intensely personal testimony played out against a highly political backdrop. Writing as his land was being invaded and his fellow Israelites were plundered by the Chaldeans, Habakkuk questions God’s actions with a passion equal to Job’s. Habakkuk wonders, how can a God who is just and compassionate allow his people to be slaughtered? In trying to punish the Israelites and right the wrongs of his people, why did God choose the savage, infinitely more wicked Chaldeans as his instrument?

The puzzles Habakkuk contemplates will stir the hearts and minds of anyone who has ever wrestled with the existence of evil. Francis I. Andersen, a well-known authority on the Minor Prophets and acclaimed Hebrew studies pioneer, examines Habakkuk both as a work of sophisticated theological inquiry and as an artistic creation. The result is a book that illuminates the nuances of the text and brings to life the culture and values of the ancient Israelites through a compelling portrait of one the Bible’s most fascinating and elusive prophets.

Key Features

• Offers original translations, including alternative translations, annotations, and variants
• Provides verse-by-verse commentary on the text
• Presents the reader with historical background, including analysis of authorship and dating
• Features an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary literature

Contents

• Title (1:1)
• Habakkuk’s First Prayer (1:2–4)
• Yahweh’s First Response (1:5–11)
• Habakkuk’s Second Prayer (1:12–17)
• Habakkuk’s Response (2:1)
• Yahweh’s Second Response (2:2–5)
• The Woe Oracles (2:6–20)
  • Introduction to the Woe Oracles (2:6a)
  • The First Woe Oracle (2:6b–8)
  • The Second Woe Oracle (2:9–11)
  • The Third Woe Oracle (2:12–14)
  • The Fourth Woe Oracle (2:15–17)
  • The Fifth Woe Oracle (2:18–19)
  • Conclusion (2:20)
• The Psalm of Habakkuk (3:1–19)
  • Title (3:1)
  • The Invocation in Habakkuk’s Prayer (3:2)
  • The March in the South (3:3–7)
  • The Victory over the Waters (3:8–15)
  • Habakkuk’s Response (3:16–19)
  • Dedication (3:19c)

Top Highlights

“It is interesting that all the problems listed in v 17 are due to a failure of nature (or of Yahweh as the God of farm and flock), not to the depredations of a conqueror. Even when these most familiar and reliable tokens of God’s goodness are withdrawn, God himself will be more than enough for fullness of joy.” (Page 345)

“ All these passages are referring to impending judgments.” (Page 145)

“To sum up. There is no sure proof of the date of the book as a whole, or of any constituent part. As long as it is not tampered with, or explained as symbolic, the reference to the Chaldeans in Hab 1:6 points to the Neo-Babylonian period. If this statement is taken in its obvious intention as a prediction, a date before the major incursion of the Babylonians into Judaea is required. The ‘woe oracles’ and the Psalm (Habakkuk 3) could be further reactions to this threat, either in anticipation or after its fulfillment. All could have been done within the lifetime of one person, between, say, 605 b.c.e (Battle of Carchemish) and 575 b.c.e. Rudolph (1975:194) is more precise, settling the latest likely date at 597 b.c.e.” (Page 27)

“The ‘confessions’ of Jeremiah give the fullest disclosure of the suffering that a prophet might have to endure” (Page 195)

“This unit is the passionate prayer of a desperate man” (Page 123)

Product Details

• Title: Habakkuk: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
• Author: Francis I. Andersen
• Series: Anchor Yale Bible
• Volume: 25
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Print Publication Date: 2008
• Logos Release Date: 2009
• Pages: 416
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Bible. O.T. Habakkuk › Commentaries
• Resource ID: LLS:ANCHOR35HAB
• Resource Type: Bible Commentary
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T19:07:34Z

About Francis I. Andersen

Francis I. Andersen is an Australian scholar and biblical Hebrew expert. Together with A. Dean Forbes, he pioneered computer analysis of biblical Hebrew syntax. He has taught and worked in leadership at several institutions across Australia and the United States. He is the author of Studies in Hebrew and Aramaic Orthography and has contributed to the Anchor Yale Bible, Tyndale Commentaries, and more.