Readings:
Habakkuk 1-3
2 Corinthians 3

Habakkuk 1-3

Not much is known about the prophet Habakkuk or where he came from. Most other prophets introduce themselves with some biographical information like their hometown, the tribe they belong to, or even just their father’s name, but Habakkuk stands alone in that he gives us none of this.

Considering the entire book is about the Chaldeans (the peoples from the city of Babylon and it’s surrounding areas. Often used synonymously with Babylonians) and they really came to power around the fall of the Assyrian empire in 615BC and then destroying Jerusalem in 587 BC we can assume he’s writing just around then, probably in the same time frame as Jeremiah’s early prophecies.

Habakkuk begins by questioning God, and asking why his judgment has not yet come for all the evil that’s been done in the land, then God answers that he’ll use the Chaldeans to punish Judah but that in the end the Chaldeans will face a much harsher punishment because they’re even more wicked that the Israelites.

The book ends with a song of praise that admits that even though he doesn’t understand the ways of God and his timing of things, he trusts in him and believes in him, and sometimes that’s all we can hang on to as well.

2 Corinthians 3

Paul asks rhetorically if he needs to provide a letter of recommendation to prove the authenticity of his ministry, because some scholars say that the false teachers who caused so much problems had provided false résumés to prove their claims. Paul says that he doesn’t actually need to prove anything because the church that he established is his letter of recommendation.

Paul makes lots of comparisons with the Old Testament and lots of metaphors too. He compared the veil that Moses wore to hide his face to the metaphorical veil that lays over the minds of unbelieving Israel. They were not capable of fully grasping all the foreshadowing and typology that was in the Old Testament, because only through Christ does it all become clear.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Baruch 1-2
2 Corinthians 4