{"id":78699,"date":"2020-08-12T06:54:01","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T03:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78699"},"modified":"2020-08-12T06:58:14","modified_gmt":"2020-08-12T03:58:14","slug":"did-habakkuk-demand-a-divine-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/did-habakkuk-demand-a-divine-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Habakkuk Demand A Divine Defense?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"78699","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46656,"related_cahpter":"544","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The answer: Though it may tarry, await it...\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Habakkuk chapter 1 opened with a remarkable display of chutzpah as the prophet takes God to task. Habakkuk admonishes God for not only not punishing the wicked Babylonians but allowing them to prosper from their evil ways, and even goes so far as to blame God for the Israelite\u2019s failings. \u201cThat is why the Torah is weakened\u2026since the wicked surround the righteous, therefore justice emerges distorted\u201d, says Habakkuk (1:4).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The apparent chutzpah goes further in Chapter 2, when Habakkuk continues (2:1) by, according to Rashi\u2019s interpretation of the language, drawing a circle, standing inside it and declaring that \u201che would not leave it until God explained why the wicked often succeed and the righteous often suffer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Did Habakkuk really blame God and demand He explain Himself?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Oxford English Dictionaries defines chutzpah, not as simply the impertinent gall and nerve that it\u2019s understood to be colloquially, but as \u201cbrash self-confidence.\u201d\u00a0 Was Habakkuk so confident that God was wrong that he was willing to go an a chutzpadik rant? On the contrary. Habakkuk was a prophet, chosen by God, and what he was confident about above all else was that God was right, even if he couldn\u2019t understand it. Habakkuk was looking for an answer from God that he could in turn convey to the people who would criticize God\u2019s justice (Rashi) or perhaps was seeking a response to those who continuously questioned when they would see an end to this exile (Mahari Kara.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Evidently God understood Habakkuk\u2019s sincerity and didn\u2019t take his words as an affront, because He responded with a very pragmatic instruction. \u201cWrite the vision and clarify it on tablets, so that a reader may read it swiftly.\u201d The vision spoken of here is that the Babylonians will get their due in good time; the Israelites will get their reward; and \u201cthough it may tarry, await it (2:3).\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We have encountered instances of prophets being instructed to write their prophecies in scrolls, but in this case the medium for the message was to be tablets. Malbim explains that whereas scrolls were intended to be stored away for future individuals to study, tablets were intended to provide immediate information to the masses. And that\u2019s precisely what Habakkuk was asking for \u2013 an immediate response for a people in extreme distress. God heard Habakkuk\u2019s plea as the expression of confident faith that it was and gave Habakkuk a strategy for funneling his own confidence to the rest of the nation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: Habakkuk, the Biblical prophet, watercolor circa 1896\u20131902 by James Tissot \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":78700,"id":78700,"title":"hab2-tissot","filename":"hab2-tissot.jpeg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hab2-tissot.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/did-habakkuk-demand-a-divine-defense\/hab2-tissot\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"hab2-tissot","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":78699,"date":"2020-08-12 03:53:50","modified":"2020-08-12 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