TIME LINE (Lesson 2A)
Adam
Noah
Abraham – called by God from Ur
Isaac
Jacob
Joseph – Abraham’s Descendants move to Egypt
Moses – leads Hebrews ((Jews) out of Egypt
Jews in Promised Land ruled by judges
Samuel – last judge – anoints Saul as first King of Israel
David becomes second king (1000)
Solomon Solomon– David’s son – becomes third King
David becomes second king (1000)
Solomon Solomon– David’s son – becomes third King
Under Solomon’s two sons (Jereboam and Rehoboam) the Kingdom splits into
2 nations (around 850 B)
2 nations (around 850 B)
[The Northern 10 tribes under Jereboam choose Samaria
Southern 2 tribes (Judah and Benjamin) under Rehoboam keep Jerusalem
[Northern Kingdom, in 732 BC conquered by Assyria and its population
deported]
deported]
Southern Kingdom falls to the Babylonians, beginning around 600 BC, and Jerusalem conquered in 586-585 BC (This is the time period we are studying) – Daniel is taken to Babylon
The prophets Daniel, Habakkuk, Jeremiah and Zephaniah served at this time
Babylonians defeated by the Persians around 539 BC
Under Persian King Cyrus, Jews allowed to begin returning home to
Promised Land, where they rebuilt the city walls and the temple (finished around 516-515 BC) preparing the stage for the advent of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word 500 years later.
Quiz #1 (on Timeline)
______1. Place these names in chronological order: (1) Joseph, (2) David ,
(3) Habakkuk, (4) Moses
a. 4, 1, 3, 2
b. 1, 4, 2, 3
c. 3, 4, 1, 2
d. 2, 4, 3, 1
_______2. Read Daniel 5. Who is Belshazzar?
a. Son of Nebuchadnezzar
b. Last King of Babylon
c. A King of the Mede-Persian Empire
d. A and B
e. All of the above
_______3. Also from Daniel 5. Who gave Nebuchadnezzar his control of the empire and his greatness?
a. The Queen of Sheba
b. Sennacherib, the King of the Assyrians
c. Natural selection – survival of the fittest
d. God Himself
e. All of the above
_______4. What objects did Nebuchadnezzar take from Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem
a. The golden altar they desecrated
b. The goblets they were drinking from
c. The Law of Moses they destroyed
d. All of the above
_______5. Daniel says that Belshazzar did not honor the God “who holds in His hand your life” and so God Himself had sent the hand that wrote on the walls. And so Belshazzar’s kingdom would be given to:
a. More religious Babylonians
b. Daniel and his 3 friends
c. The Jews who were living in the capital
d. The Medes and Persians
______6. Cyrus followed Darius as King of the Medes and Persians. Read 2 Chronicles 36:15-23. Then read Ezra 1:1-2. What prophet is mentioned in each
reference?
a. Isaiah
b. Jonah
c. John the Baptist
d. Jeremiah
_______7. Read Jeremiah 52:12-16. Who came to Jerusalem
a. Nebuzaradan, Commander of the Imperial Guard
b. Belshazzar, King of Babylon
c. Cyrus, the successor to Darius
d. Nebuchadnezzar himself
_______8. In Jeremiah 52 we read of more items the Babylonians took from the temple. Some of these items were:
a. All bronze items
b. Shovels, pots, dishes and bowls
c. Lampstands and items of pure gold and silver
c. Lampstands and items of pure gold and silver
d. All of the above
e. A and b
_______9. What additional item did Indiana Jones think was taken by the Babylonians:
a. The pillars that stood on the temple porch
b. The guest towels from the palace guest rooms
c. The Ark of the Covenant
d. Gold, frankincense and myrrh from the golden offering plates
_______10. In Jeremiah 39:1 what two kings of opposing armies of Judah and Babylon
a. Solomon Of Israel and Jeroboam Samaria
b. Zedekiah of Judah and Cyrus of Persia
c. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and Darius of Persia
d. Zedekiah of Judah and Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
______11. After the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem
a. King Zedekiah and the soldiers fled.
b. The Babylonians captured most of the people for deportation to Babylon
c. The soldiers protected Jeremiah and took him back home
d. All of the above
_______12. How many years after the temple was destroyed was it rebuilt?
a. 120
b. 70
c. 100
d. 25
LESSON 2
To begin: Read again chapter 1 of Habakkuk.
The Date.
The issue now is to establish a date for Habakkuk’s “Burden.”
In some of the other prophets – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, for example – the specific date for the message from God is given to us.
Habakkuk does not give us this information. Apparently Habakkuk was consumed with his message – not mere details like when he
received this Word from God, not where he was, what he was doing,
or who his father was.
There are some hints, though, in the document itself, which allows us to put the date at around 600 B.C.
1. It was a time of great apostasy. Injustice and intolerance and violence surrounded him.
See Verses 1:2-4: “the law is paralyzed,” “justice never prevails,” “conflict abounds,” the “wicked hem in the righteous.”
This leads us to think he wrote after the death of King Josiah,
who reigned from 640 to 609 B.C.
As you remember, King Josiah is considered one of the “good kings” of Judah – in fact, the last good king.
JOSIAH’S REVIVAL
Josiah was crowned at age 8. The journal of his reign is in 2 Kings
22 and 23.
He decided while still a young king to repair the temple. In the process a copy of the Law was found -– the Word of God – imagine that – a copy of God’s Word in the temple! It had been ignored for many years.
Josiah read the Law and then led a great revival and reform movement, destroying idol worship and reinstituting the Passover and other temple observances. He felt a great burden to bring his land back to the worship of their God Jehovah.
Revivals always overflow into the culture and bring positive change, including the extension of righteousness and the pursuit of justice, for that reflects the way God commands His people to treat each other.
It is such a fascinating story. Take time to read it in 2 Kings, chapters 22 and 23.
(By the way, remember Josiah is listed in Matthew 1 as an ancestor of Christ, in David’s line).
Anyway, Josiah was killed in 609 B.C. at Megiddo
There is a strange note in Scripture, though, about that battle. The note is found in 2 Chronicles 35. Apparently God told Pharaoh Necho to tell Josiah not face him in battle.
“What quarrel is there between you and me, O King of Judah
It is not you I am attacking….God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God…”
The text in 2 Chronicles 35 goes on to say: “Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to engage him in battle.”
In verses 23-24 we learn that Josiah was shot by the Pharaoh’s archers and asked his officers to place him in a chariot and take him back to Jerusalem
And in verse 25:”Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah and to this day all the men and women singers commemorate Josiah in the laments…These became a tradition…”
All this makes me wonder – if Josiah defied God (even if the message was brought by an Egyptian Pharaoh) had his own spiritual life begin to decline? I mean, why would he even go out and face Pharaoh Necho (or Neco)? Was it pride? Was it arrogance? Egypt was not at war with Judah
The Scripture says that Josiah’s revival had its high point
Did it start a decline shortly after that? By 609 B.C., when Josiah was killed in battle with the Pharaoh, was the revival already on the slippery slope downward?
This revival was from the “top down.” If Josiah had begun to disobey God, did everyone else begin to reject His Word also?
It had been a revival of “epic proportions…..” What happened?
REVIVALS DON’T LAST LONG
At Josiah’s death, the tide of revival was halted. (Then, as now, revivals are not passed down from generation to generation. Too bad we can’t just leave them in our wills!)
The point is that there was apparently no revival going on in the miserable days of our prophet Habakkuk, and so we think it had to be written after 609 B.C. (the year Josiah was killed).
But likely Habakkuk had lived through the revival/reformation, or part of it, and remembered the observance of the Law of God and seems to yearn for the return of those days. He knew what life was like when his nation honored God and His laws. Those were indeed the ‘good ole days!’
But the Israelites, like us, easily drift away.
(And that’s why we have to be continually “revived”!)
2. It was the time of the early days of the Babylonians.
See verse 6 of chapter 1. God says, “I am raising up the Babylonians.”
That is our second clue in dating Habakkuk.
The Babylonians were on the rise, but not yet a fatal threat,
as they became after 605 B.C, when they achieved control of Judah
The new king of Judah
Around 600 B.C. (he was King of Judah 609-597 B.C.) he unwisely decided to rebel. It was a short-lived revolt, and King Nebuchadnezzar then began deporting the wealthier and more powerful Jews from Judah to Babylon
(Daniel was part of that first group of Israelites deported to Babylon
Because of these hints -- the deplorable spiritual condition of the people and the rise of Babylonian power -- it is fairly certain that the date of Habakkuk’s “burden” was around 600 B.C.
Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Daniel and Habakkuk were contemporaries.
FUN PROJECTS FOR LESSON #2
1. Read Isaiah 1:1, 6:1; Jeremiah 1:1-2; Ezekiel 1:1-3; Daniel 1:1-2. We are so blessed to have God’s message! Exact dates and details to show it all happened at an exact place and time – a perfect slot in history. (No other faith or “belief-system” has anything like this).
2. Read Lamentations (chapters 1 & 5, or all of it). This lament is a funeral song for Judah
Lamentations is a poem expressing Jeremiah’s great sadness that Judah was conquered by Babylon and Jerusalem
It is a picture of what happened to Judah
3. Then read chapter 3:21-26 of Lamentations. This is a golden nugget in the miry pit of terror and destruction. Let its words sink in…”Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope...” (3:21)
4. Then sing to God, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” Just sing it like no one else is listening! He loves to hear you sing!
Think of the psalm David wrote in 1 Chronicles 16:9…”Give thanks to Him...sing to Him…”
(Remember, some day we will be singing “new songs” around His throne. Maybe we will get “new voices” with our “new bodies!” But for now, ‘make a loud noise” to our faithful God-King!)
Here are the familiar words to the song inspired by those golden phrases in Lamentations 3…
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
there is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not,
as Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be
Summer and winter and seedtime and harvest;
sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
join with all nature in manifold witness,
to Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow;
Blessings all mine, with ten-thousand beside!
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.
5. Read Psalm 137. Imagine it. “Read it and weep.”
We don’t know where Habakkuk was when this psalm was written. Was he there with those refugees? Was he dead? Was he back in Jerusalem
Where were the people who sang this psalm?
When did they weep?
How were they being taunted and made fun of?
Were they likely to forget Jerusalem
6. How do the “wicked hem in the righteous” (Habakkuk 1:4)
today?
