This last semester I took an Old Testament Survey class at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. It was the second class and was on the poetry and prophetic books. One of the assignments I had to do was to write a paper on something that related to the class. So I chose the Book of Habakkuk. It is interesting that a book that when I said to some people I was going to do a paper on him they asked, "WHO!" However I found the book very interesting and it has aspects that many people would gain from reading it.

The name Habakkuk actually comes from a word very similar to the Hebrew word for "embrace." However, they are really not sure about its meaning, but they do have a consensus that this is the right meaning. I thought that since my Blog name is "Embracing God" that it would be a good study to put online for those who would like to know more.

Habakkuk is actually broken down into three discourses and I will discuss these in other Blog posts, but the interesting thing about Habakkuk is his willingness to question God about the evil and suffering in the world. It is said that this book is very similar to Job in the fact that it faces God with evil and suffering in the world. It is called Theodicy and is a question that many people struggle with. For some tragedy brings them closer to God, while for others it takes them further away from Him. That is why a study of this book is so important.

The book itself is not only about Theodicy, but also it is about God's sovereignty and human doubt. God has a reason for everything that happens, and to touch on it would take many posts to do it justice. The study theodicy is a book in of itself with many theories. I will touch on some of these, as necessary, but want to concentrate on the book of Habakkuk for now.

Dr. Chen, my professor, stated that you cannot fully understand the prophetic books unless you know the history of what was taking place at the time it was written. Unfortunately there is a lot of contention about the date on most of the books, but with a thorough study, a researcher can find an agreeable date of authorship. I will discuss the Authorship, History, the (3) Discourses and some of the critical views as well. Hopefully those who study it along side of me will also learn to better embrace God and strengthen their walk with Him as well.