Who Was Habakkuk and When Did He Minister?
Habakkuk most probably served his ministry after the appearance of the Chaldeans in world history. Many scholars believe that he wrote after the battle of Carchemish in which Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptians in 605 B.C. and before the first deportation of the Jews in 597 B.C. From his writing it is also believed he lived in Jerusalem. (See James Hastings, ed., A Dictionary of the Bible, s.v. “Habakkuk.”) If this is the case, then he was a contemporary of Lehi and Jeremiah, prophesying to the same people. Nothing is known about the man himself other than what may be inferred from his writings. The traditional material that has filtered down concerning him is evidently legendary and cannot be comfortably relied upon. It is known that he was a great prophet who left “one of the noblest and most penetrating words in the history of religion” (J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, p. 587).
