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TRHCK THROUGH THE RIRLE
2fy G. CHMPFELL MORGAN, Westminster Chapel, London, England.
Appearing t-t’try Week During IW. {Copyright American Serial “Rights applied Tor by The Golden 59g0 Publishing Co. All Rights Resorbed.)
HABAKKUK THE PROBLEMS OF FAITH.
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A. The Prophet’s Problems. i.-ii. 4. B. The Prophet’s Proclamations. 11. 5-iii.
I. The First Problem and Answer. I. 2-11 I. Os the Puffed-up. ii. 5-20
1. The Problem. 2-4 1. Description of the Puffed-up. 5
ii. The Answer. 5-11 ii. Woes. 6-19
iii. Final Statement. 20
11. The Second Problem and Answer. I. 12-ii. 4 11. Os the Righteous. iii.
i. The Problem. i. 12-17 i. The Initial Prayer. 2
ii. The Prophet’s Attitude. ii. 1 ii. The God in Whom faith is centered. 3-15
iii. The Answer. ii. 2-4 iii. The Fear and Faith of the Just. 16-19
HABAKKUK.
F HABAKKUK nothing more is known
than his name and that he was, in all
probability, a Levite. There is no se
rious discrepancy in the opinions con
cerning the date of his prophesying.
Internal evidence brings it into rela
tion with the Chaldean invasion so that
the range is from B. C. 635 to 586. This
invasion was punishment for Manas-
0
I I
seh’s sin and yet did not occur until after the death
cf Josiah in the reign of Jehoiakim. When he de
livered his message the condition of things calling
for reformation still existed. The probability, there
fore, is that he prophesied during the closing years
of Manasseh, or during the reign of Amon which
was earlier than Zephaniah in the days of Josiah.
A description of the times of Manasseh, Amon, and
the early days of Josiah is contained in II Kings
xxi, xxii, and the prophet’s description (1.2-4) would
exactly coincide. The bcok is a prophecy and yet
its methods differ from any other. The burden of
the prophet is that of the problems of permitted
evil, and the using of the Chaldeans as the instru
ment to scourge evil doers less wicked than them
selves.
In this book we have a man cf faith asking ques
tions and receiving answers. A comparison of i. 2
with iii.l9 will give an indication of the true value
of this book. Opening in mystery and questioning,
it closes in certainty and affirmation. The contrast
is startling. The first is almost a wail of despair,
and the last is a shout of confidence. From the
affirmation of faith’s agnosticisms, we come to the
confirmation of agnosticism’s faith. The book is a
movement from one to the other. The door of exit
and entrance is ii. 4. The former part is the path
way leading toward, and the latter is the highway
leading therefrom. The book falls naturally into
two parts. The Prophet’s Problems (i-ii. 4 The
Prophet’s Proclamations (ii.s-iii).
A. THE PROPHET’S PROBLEMS.
In this first division we have the prophet’s state
ment of the problems which vexed his soul.
The first was that of the apparent indifference of
Jehovah both to his prayer and to the condition of
prevailing evil. It is such a problem as could only
occur to a man of faith. Take away God, and there
is no problem. He indicated the whole condition
of affairs by the one word “violence” and then
proceeded to describe it in greater detail. To this
Jehovah replied that He was at work, but that the
prophet would not believe if he were told. He then
proceeded to declare explicitly that His method
was that of raising up the Chaldeans as a scourge
against His people.
This answer of Jehovah, while strengthening the
faith of the prophet, immediately created a new
problem. This he stated by first affirming his faith,
and then expressing his astonishment that Jehovah
should use such an instrument, for notwithstanding
all Israel’s sin, they were more righteous than the
Chaldeans. Thus the method of God constituted a
new problem. The prophet declared his determina
tion to watch and wait. This was the attitude of
faith and honesty. He knew that God had an ans-
The Golden Age for October 10, 1907.
wer and would give it, and therefore he determined
to wait. The answer came immediately. The proph
et was first commanded to write and to make his
writing plain for easy reading. The vision granted
to him was stated in the words: “Behold, his soul
is puffed up, it is not upright in him: but the just
shall live by his faith.” That is the central revela
tion of the prophecy. It is a contrast between the
“puffed up” and the “just.” The former is not
upright and therefore is condemned. The latter
acts on faith and therefore lives. The first is self
centered and therefore doomed. The second is God
centered and therefore permanent. This was the
declaration of a great principle which the prophet
was left to work out in application to all the prob
lems by which he was surrounded. From this point
the prophecy becomes a proclamation of the con
trast, and therefore an affirmation of faith in spite
of appearances.
B. THE PROPHET’S PROCLAMATIONS.
These fall into two parts. The first is concern
ing the “puffed up,” the second concerning the
righteous.
In the proclamation of the “puffed up” the view’-
point is that of the sin of such and its consequent
judgment. He first described the “puffed up” as
haughty, ambitious, conquering, against whom he
then proceeded to pronounce woes. In considering
these the progress is to be carefully noted. The
first was against ambition which was described. The
judgment pronounced against it was that of the
revolt cf the oppressed, and retribution in kind.
The second was against covetousness, that lust for
possession which led to the destruction of the peo
ple for increase of personal strength. Its judg
ment was to be that of the breaking out against the
oppressor of the subjugated people, the stones and
beams of the house testifying. The third was
against violence, the infliction of cruel sufferings
upon the subjugated. Its judgment was that the
very cities so built should be destroyed. The fourth
was against insolence, the brutal act of making a
man drunk and then making sport of him. Its judg
ment was to be retribution in kind. The fifth was
against idolatry, the description of vhich was whol
ly satirical. Its judgment was declared to be that
of the unaswering gods. The final statement of the
prophet in this connection declared that he had
found the solution. “The Lord is in His holv tem
ple. ’ ’ The apparent strength of wickedness is false.
Jehovah reigns.
In the proclamation concerning the righteous the
viewpoint is that of the majesty of Jehovah, and
the consequent triumph of His people. It consists
of a psalm which is a prayer. In the first move
ment the prophet declared his recognition of the
Divine interference, and his consequent • fear. He
then proceeded to celebrate the greatness of Je
hovah as manifest in His dealings with His ancient
people. The last section of the psalm expressed
the fear and the faith of the judgment. The contem
plation of the judgment of the “puffed up” had
filled him with fear, yet he triumphed in God.
Describing the circumstances of utterest desolation,
he declared his determination in the midst of them
to rejoice, and appounced his reasop for this deter
mination,
The Prohibition Fight.
The progress of prohibition is illustrated in these
linos:
‘ ‘ ’Tis weary watching, wave by wave,
And yet the tide heaves onward;
We build, like corals, grave by grave,
Yet pave a path that’s sunward.
“We’re beaten back in many a fray,
Yet newer strength we'll borrow;
And where the vanguard rests today.
The rear will camp tomorrow.
“Though hearts brood o’er the past, our eyes
With smiling futures glisten;
For lo! the sun rolls up the skies!
Lean out your souls and listen!
“The World is rolling Freedom's way,
And ripening with its sorrow,
Take heart; who bear the cross today,
Shall wear the crown tomorrow.”
—From the American Issue.
“It looks as if a prohibition gale 'was sweeping
over our country. Missouri Democrats are talking
of a prohibition plank in their platform. The hard
and discouraging work of so many years is telling
now.” —L. R. Woods, St. Louis, September 20, 1907.
Dr. J. C. Solomon, superintendent of the Geor
gia Anti-Saloon League, made a gladsome report
at the meeting of the American Anti-Saloon
League at Norfolk, Va. His announcement of the
God-given victory was received by the vast throng
of prohibitionists with rounds of applause and
cheers.
Not the least important nor significant of the dis
jointed facts that come to light in the prohibition
progress is that eveiy now and then the great
corporations fall into the marching columns of li
quor fighters. The Adams Express Co., it is said,
has notified its agents in Pennsylvania to discontinue
its C. O. D. liquor business into dry territory.
Kansas has adopted a scheme to prevent the drug
stores from becoming drink shops. It seems io be
a measure something like the doctor’s clause in the
Hardman-Covington bill. Under its requirements
the would-be purchaser must file an affidavit signed
by his own name that the liquor sought is to be
used for specific medicinal purposes. If it should
be used in any other way, the purchaser would be
indicted for perjury and on conviction sent to the
penitentiary. It is said that the drug stores’ liquor
business in Kansas is dying out.
The latest development of interest in the north
west is a novel circular campaign which has just
been launched by the Brewery Workers of Minne
sota, who have sent out thousands of appeals to
organized labor, printed in both English and Ger
man, attacking prohibition and attempting to warn
the working men generally against the prohibition
party agitation. Os course, this new scheme is un
doubtedly financed and directed by the big brewers
themselves, who have thus attempted to escape pub
lic censure by inveigling their wage-slaves into do
ing this dirty work for their interests.
The Wesleyan Advocate quotes a story from an
exchange to the effect that an ordinance of some
Western city required that the picture of every
habitual drunkard in town should be posted in every
saloon, and the saloonkeepers should be forbidden
on the pain of the forfeiture of their license to sell
to any of them. That is just like all attempts to
regulate the sale of liquor. It always begins at
the wrong end of the problem. The rule ought to
be that the saloon man should be sent to the peni
tentiary, if he sold to anybody else than the habit
ual drunkard. What we want to prevent is the
making of new drunkards out of our’ boys.