Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah

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WHO WERE THEY?

I’d like to begin by introducing you to each one of these prophets. We don’t know a lot about them, but maybe just a few details on each. Who were Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah?

First Nahum,

Nahum was an Elkoshite, or someone from the small city of Elkosh in the Galilee area.

Nahum means “consoler” .

His book is mostly addressed to the people of the Assyrian capital of Nineveh and contains a prophecy that the city would be destroyed. The Assyrians were bitter oppressors of the Israelites and had already conquered and scattered the Northern Kingdom. They were known to be some of the most brutal conquerors in the ancient world.

The book of Nahum was most likely written sometime between 660 BC and 606 BC.

Habakkuk

We don’t know when or where this book was written. But, more than likely, it was written just prior to the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC.

Habakkuk was from the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

His name means “To embrace” which works really well with the message of his book, and you’ll see why. It’s message is kind of like an embrace from heaven.

Some scholars believe that perhaps Habakkuk was a musician because you do see some musical elements in his writings here, much like we saw in the Book of Psalms.

And one final interesting thing to note here. The prophecies of Habakkuk are found amongst the writings that were discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Zephaniah

He ministered during the reign of King Josiah whose story we studied earlier this year in 2 Kings.

So that places his writings some time around the years 639 BC and 608 BC.

His name means “The Lord hides” or “the Lord lies in wait” which also works well with his book because much of its content focuses on the Second Coming.

He was possibly the great-great grandson of King Hezekiah.

HINDS FEET

ICEBREAKER

To introduce these three small books of scripture, I actually prefer to start in the Book of Habakkuk because I feel that it’s the most powerful and relevant of the three books and is my favorite for this week. That’s not to say that Nahum and Zephaniah aren’t good, but the message of the book of Habakkuk is so applicable, so relevant for our day that I feel it’s a really good place to start and it also provides us with a foundational principle that we can build on with the other two books. So for an icebreaker I like to begin with the following object lesson.

I begin by asking if they’ve ever been in a maze before. I know that around here, at Halloween time, corn mazes are quite popular, and I ask what they’re experience was like. Did they get lost? Were they confused? How did they eventually find their way out? Well, I believe that life can be a lot like navigating a difficult maze or labyrinth at times. We may often find ourselves feeling lost, trapped, or confused. And so I’ve made this maze activity for my students to try. You can have a contest to see who can get through it the quickest. But after that challenge I let them in on a little secret about mazes that I’ve found a lot of people don’t know. There is a sure-fire method for getting through almost any maze, guaranteed to work every time. Now it may not be the quickest way of getting through. It’s possible that if you decide to just haphazardly make your way through, you may get lucky and find your way through faster but you’re leaving a lot up to chance. So what’s the solution to every maze? It’s choose the right. Yep. That’s it. That’s certain to get you through. And what I mean by that is to consistently, whenever you come to a junction, to take a right turn. Choose that same direction every time and eventually you will arrive at the end of the maze. Now what do you do if you come to a dead end because that very well might happen. No need to fret. Just turn around, head back in the direction which you came and once again, choose the right at the next junction. Or, if that explanation is still confusing you, here’s another way of looking at it. If you were to just put your hand on the right wall, and just walk, and never let go of that wall, just continue to slide it along, and follow it, that would also take you to your destination.

How is that like life? Life works in much the same way. The best way through the choices and challenges of life is by “choosing the right”. And when we feel like we’ve hit a dead end, to not despair, to not give up, but to turn around and keep going. We don’t necessarily have to look at every dead end as a mistake, but as experience. Now we know which way not to go. And when life gets confusing, when we feel lost or bewildered by the things we see happening around us, there are principles and practices that can get us through almost anything. We don’t have to wander aimlessly through life, just hoping that we’re eventually going to get it right.

TRANSITION

Well, the book of Habakkuk begins with a prayer. A maze prayer—uttered by the prophet. It’s apparent that he is feeling lost and bewildered by the world he sees around him. It’s the kind of prayer that I believe a lot of us pray at times in our lives. So I want you to read his prayer in 1:2-4 and tell me what it is that he’s confused about.

SEARCH

2 O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.

4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

Have you ever prayed that prayer or some version of it? I know I have. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! Exclamation point. Or, Lord, why don’t you seem to be listening to me? Why do my prayers continue to go unanswered? Why won’t you do something about this? And what is the situation here with Habakkuk? It’s the world around him that’s disturbing and bewildering him. It’s filled with violence, iniquity, contention, and unfairnes, and the Lord doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it. Have you ever wondered the same thing? And our world isn’t any different, is it? Things haven’t changed much since then. I mean, watch the evening news. Habakkuk nailed it—iniquity, grievance, spoiling, violence, strife and contention, laws being broken, unfairness, the wicked surrounding and exploiting the innocent and corruption at the highest levels. And have you ever looked around at all that pain and confusion and cried out: “Oh Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!” Have you ever questioned God? Or the way he runs his universe?

Or, maybe you’ve prayed that prayer on a more personal level. As you consider the hardships and challenges that you face in your own life. That the violence or contention or unfairness you are experiencing is much closer to home in nature. I’m sure that many of you out there have endured or are currently enduring some pretty horrendous circumstances, unbearable tragedies, great pain, and bewildering situations. And in the depths of those dark times, perhaps you’ve prayed Habakkuk’s prayer. “How long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!” Joseph Smith prayed that prayer in Liberty Jail when he cried out, “O God, where art thou, and where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:1). Abraham prays that prayer. Job prays that prayer. Jeremiah prays that prayer. Even Jesus prays a version of that prayer while on the cross. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me” (Matthew 27:46).

There’s a line from Macbeth, the Shakespearean play, that I feel captures the emotion and sentiment of these maze prayers very well. MacDuff utters these words after he learns that his family has been killed. He says:

“Did heaven look on, And would not take their part”

(w1)

I know I’ve wondered that at times. Why didn’t heaven do anything about this? God certainly has the power to do something. But so often, nothing seems to be done.

What other kinds of situations have caused you to pray that prayer? How about in terms of faith? Have your doubts and questions ever caused you to say a “maze prayer”? When we encounter challenges to our beliefs? Anxieties that seem to tear at our testimonies. Perhaps something from Church History, a past or current church policy, a negative experience with a church leader? Or we pray and pray to have our faith confirmed, and the answers don’t seem to be forthcoming?

So what do we do in those situations? What do we do about seemingly unanswered prayers?

The book of Habakkuk has some help to offer us.

Now, as far as the book of Habakkuk is concerned. HIS major concern is with the state of the people of Israel themselves. All the violence and iniquity he sees around him is coming from his own people and the prophet wonders if God is going to do anything about it. And in verses 5-11, the Lord does answer him by saying that he’s aware of what’s happening, and that he is going to send the Babylonians in, and they will conquer Judah, and tear down their pride and the wickedness. Babylon will be his response.

But Habakkuk isn’t very satisfied with that answer. That just raises another question and concern. The Babylonians are even more wicked than the people of Judah! They’re far worse. They treat people like animals, like fish in a net to take them away and devour them. How could the Lord use such a corrupt nation as his instrument? Habakkuk says in 1:13

13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

I don’t understand why you would let an even more wicked nation devour your people, sinful as they are. And so the rest of the book deals with that particular question and concern.

WHEN OUR PRAYERS SEEM UNANSWERED

But let’s study this book from the perspective of our own challenges, questions, and doubts. Is there anything in this book that can help us navigate the “maze prayers” of our own lives? I believe there is. I invite you to study the following verses carefully and ponder how they might help us when we encounter these kinds of situations.

Habakkuk 2:1-4

Habakkuk 2:14

Habakkuk 2:20

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Habakkuk 2:1-4

First, Habakkuk 2:1-4.

2 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

2 And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Now let’s pause right there for a second. What’s part of the solution presented to us there?

Patience is the answer. Patience with the Lord’s timing. We’ve got to resolve to do as Habakkuk does. We must stand upon our watch and wait, with patience for the answer. God doesn’t always see fit to answer our concerns and questions at the very moment we ask them. Sometimes it takes time. And the Lord suggests the same thing in the next verses. “For the vision is yet for an appointed time”. Habakkuk, the resolution of this situation will come in the future, but not yet. There is “an appointed time” for it. And “though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come”. The answers, the understanding, the justice, all of it is going to be resolved, eventually.

So what do we do in the meantime? We wait and watch upon our towers. We do what verse 4 teaches.

4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

So until the answers and resolutions come . . . we must live by our faith. That is one of the purposes of our mortal test here on earth—to live by faith. God told Moroni in the Book of Mormon that we would receive no witness until after the trial of our faith (Ether 12:6). And “just” in this verse is an interesting word. In Doctrine and Covenants 76 when the Celestial kingdom is described and the kinds of people that will obtain it, guess which word is used to describe them? He doesn’t use the word good, or righteous, or virtuous. He uses the word just. The Celestial kingdom is a place and reward reserved for the just. And faith is an essential characteristic of those individuals who will obtain it. Faith in God’s wisdom, faith in God’s timing, and faith in God’s promises. That’s how we must live.

Now most of the remainder of chapter 2 describes how God is going to eventually bring destruction on Babylon as well, in the future. He utters his five woes to the wicked. So things are going to be fair in the end. But there are some more truths in those verses that I feel can help us.

Habakkuk 2:14

14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

That verse contains a promise for the future that I feel can help us through confusing and difficult times. If you look in the footnotes for 2:14 you’ll notice that it sends you to the topical guide under the term, “Destiny of the Earth.” In the future, the earth will not be as it is now. God may not reveal all truth and knowledge and understanding to us now, but we believe that one day he will. One day, the earth WILL be filled with his knowledge. Until then, we watch, we wait for it, we live by faith. Sometimes my students will ask me questions about what things were like before the pre-mortal council in heaven. Things like, where did God come from? How did the universe begin? If “as man is, God once was” is true, how did that work? What are the details of that? OR, they sometimes ask questions about what things will be like in the eternities. Once God’s spirits have been divided up into the kingdoms, what will they do? Do we create worlds as well? Is it possible at some future point to advance from one kingdom to another if Celestial glory hasn’t been initially obtained? And I always answer those questions in the same way. I bring them to a diagram of the Plan of Salvation that I always keep posted on my wall and I remind them that time stretches for eternity before the pre-mortal council ever took place, and that time stretches for eternity beyond the judgment and kingdoms. And we find that in the scriptures, and the teachings of the prophets that there is precious little said about either of those time periods. Just a few little obscure references here and there. But we do have an awful lot of information on this portion of the plan. Pre-mortality to the judgment. But even then, the portion of the path that we have the most truth, and knowledge, and understanding on, all seem to deal with mortality itself. Our experience here on earth—commandments we should keep, duties we should fulfill, the atonement, faith, repentance, loads of information on how to navigate this life successfully. What’s the message then, do you think? What does that communicate to us? That God wants us to focus on the task at hand. Those other things, while interesting, are not going to help us much to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. In a way, I think he’s saying, “Let’s get through this life first, let’s focus on mortality for right now. AND, if you remain faithful, I promise you that there will come a day when all these things are explained. When all will become crystal clear to you. The world will one day be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Until then, live by faith”. I think that helps, to know that one day all our questions WILL be answered.

Habakkuk 2:20

20 But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

How can that thought help us? We always need to keep in the back of our minds that God is there and that He is aware of us and the circumstances we face. The Lord is in control. Even with all the chaos and craziness of mortality, we must never forget that He is in his holy temple. Let’s keep silence about that matter. “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) Another way of looking at that verse. Go to the temple. If you need the Lord and you need to feel his presence, go to the temple, he’s there. I know that always helps me. When life in the maze gets too overwhelming, it’s nice to escape it for just a while in the Lords’ house to get my bearings and calm my fears.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Now to the concluding verses of the book of Habakkuk. I wouldn’t spend much time in chapter 3:1-16 other than to explain that it’s basically a prayer extolling and recognizing the majesty and power of God. But these final verses are my favorite of all of Habakkuk’s teachings. This is his resolution.

3:17-19

17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

18 Yet,

And let’s pause right there for a minute. Verse 17 is a list of bad things or difficult circumstances. The fig tree not blossoming, fruit not appearing on the vines, the fields not yielding grain, the flocks cut off, and the herds disappearing. All of these things would have been devastating to an ancient Israelite. So Habakkuk is saying that, no matter how bad things get, YET (oh, great word) yet, Even though things may get bad, what does he resolve to do?

I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

It is possible to still find joy in the midst of our trials and doubts. It’s possible to still find joy even when surrounded by a wicked world. God has given us both kinds of things to experience in life. Joys and sorrows, successes and failures, triumphs, and tragedies. So, like Habakkuk, we resolve to find joy in the journey. We’re not going to allow those difficult times to destroy our faith and love for God. Instead, we can turn to and rely on those we love. We can count our blessings and choose to focus on the positive aspects of our lives. We can be grateful for the strength and experience our hardships provide us. We can realize that things could be worse. We can remember that trials don’t last forever. We can have faith in God’s promise that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28). There is always much to rejoice in.

And then this superb thought.

19 The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

I love that verse. And to help my students understand what Habakkuk is talking about, I like to show them a short video. I can’t show it directly here on my channel, but I can provide you with the link here above and in the video description below and encourage you to watch it before you continue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG9TMn1FJzc ). And if you do that, you’ll see this amazing footage of ibexes scaling the almost vertical face of the Cingino dam in Italy. Those are “hinds feet”. A “hind” is a type of ibex. In the holy land, there are desert ibex that also seem to defy gravity as they run along the cliffs of the Judean wilderness. I’ve actually seen them myself while visiting En-Gedi near the Dead Sea one time. Habakkuk no doubt had experience in watching these natural rock climbers bound across the crags of the desert with nimble accuracy. I’ve also watched mountain goats on Mount Timpanogas in the Wasatch mountains with amazement at some of the places they can get themselves to.

This is a phenomenal analogy for faith. There will be times in every single one of our lives when our faith will be tried. When the straight and narrow path will truly narrow to tiny ledges and will test our resolve and spiritual dexterity. I don’t believe that the path of faith always has to be like this, but there will be times when it is. I believe the Lord allows it to be so. He knows that strength comes through testing. Strength comes through trust. Strength comes through trial. But granted, those times of faith testing can be scary and precarious. So Habakkuk expresses his faith in a God that could help him to have feet like a hind at those times so that he could bound across the cliffs of his own life and his own precarious spiritual moments. We too might pray Habakkuk’s prayer when WE are called to walk upon the high places of OUR lives. When the unfairness of the world around us seems just too overwhelming, when problems in our personal lives tempt us to despair, when our faith is challenged and our way unclear—Habakkuk teaches us HOW we are to live by faith. We trust in a God that can give us strength to keep us from falling. We trust in his ability to give us hinds feet.

I recently watched a fascinating documentary called Free Solo which relates the story of rock climber Alex Honnold free soloing El Capitan in Yosemite—an incredible feat. That means, he climbed the entire face of that mountain without a rope. One little slip, and it was certain death. And you watch that film and you’re just amazed at how he’s able to put almost his entire body weight onto these tiny, tiny ledges. Imagine the kind of finger strength that requires. But he climbs with such confidence and total tranquility. He just knows he can do it and climbs without fear. Well maybe that’s what God can do with us. He can strengthen our fingers to be able to hold on to those narrow outcroppings of our lives. And then, we can climb with confidence and arrive victoriously at the top of our own mountains.

Therefore, when my ledges of life narrow, I pray for hinds hooves and Honnold’s hands.

TRUTH

So what’s our truth for this week? When my prayers seem unanswered, if I wait patiently on the Lord, live by faith, and continue to rejoice in Him regardless of my circumstances, then He will give me strength and make my feet like hinds feet, and I will walk the high places of my life and not fall.

LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES

Have you ever felt the Lord give you hinds’ feet? A time when you felt him give you strength to walk one of your high places?

Please share!

CONCLUSION

So the next time you find yourself in the maze, lost, confused, and discouraged. When the unfairness of life and the perplexity of your problems have you feeling like you don’t know where to turn. When your prayers seem unanswered and you pray, “How long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear”. Remember Habakkuk. I promise that God does hear you, he is in his holy house, watch and wait in faith for the answer and resolution because it is sure to come. Remember a future world that is filled with the knowledge of God. Continue to find joy in the journey and pray for hinds feet. When the ledges of life narrow, God can give us the means and power to cling to them with strength. We can be like the ibex’s of Cingino dam. We can walk our high places and not fall.

NAHUM and ZEPHANIAH

Now for Nahum and Zephaniah, we’re going to build a bit off of that truth. And I tell ya, that a lot of the content of those two books is a bit more somber in nature. There’s quite a bit of death and destruction prophesied. The difference between the two is that the Book of Nahum is aimed at a foreign nation, Assyria, and its capital city Nineveh and last week, I even quoted a few verses from chapter 3 to describe the wickedness and depravity of that nation as evidence for why Jonah may not have wanted to go there. Zephaniah, on the other hand, is aimed at the Kingdom of Judah itself and warns the people of their coming destruction at the hands of the Babylonians. And, honestly, I don’t feel inclined to focus much on that particular message—the destruction of the wicked. There’s a valid principle there about the consequences of evil and the reality of God’s justice. But I prefer to focus my attention on the more positive messages from these books. They aren’t all doom and gloom, although the majority of them are. The positive message we get from these books is in the promise that oppression and wickedness will not reign forever. There is a lot of unfairness in our world. Nowadays, we have our own Assyria’s and Babylon’s. Nations and individuals and organizations and industries that oppress and exploit others. These books remind us that not only will Assyria and Babylon get their just deserts, but any future Assyria’s or Babylon’s will also face the same fate. Oppression and evil will not last forever. Justice will have its day, and the meek shall inherit the earth. Now that seems to be the major message of those two books, but within that more somber message, we do find some more encouraging and uplifting messages as well. We see the promise of a future world, following the Second Coming filled with light, peace, and joy. That’s where I like to place my focus. In Nahum they mainly come from chapter 1 and in Zephaniah, they come in chapter 3.

So to cover those messages, I might do more of an activity-based lesson with my students. It’s important to remember that if you are consistently teaching a group of people, younger students especially, it’s helpful to throw in an activity every once in a while, for variety’s sake. You may not get to go into as much depth on the verses you cover, and it may not always create the most reverent of atmospheres, but it does help to keep your classes fresh and interesting if you have an activity lesson every now and then. And when you do that, you might find that they’re more willing to be more serious and go deeper on other days.

ICEBREAKER

So the activity is a “memory” or “classic concentration” type game, if you know what I mean. How this works is that there are 20 different tiles portrayed on the screen. You divide your class into two teams and challenge them to find the matches. Behind half of the tiles they’ll find scripture references from either Nahum 1 or Zephaniah 3 and behind the other half are messages or promises of the world’s future glory following Christ’s second coming. They use their scriptures to try and determine what verse matches which message. So you have someone on one team select two different tiles, and if they match, they earn two points. If it’s not a match, the cards are flipped back over and it’s the other team’s turn. And you just go back and forth giving each team a chance to find the correct matches. And you’ll find that the teams struggle for a while at first to make matches since it takes a bit of trial and error to become familiar with the content behind each tile. But as the game progresses, it gets easier and easier as they begin to remember what is where and fewer options remain on the board as matches are made. The team that has the most points at the end wins. There are also two squares with “Free Points” behind them. If they select one of those, they immediately get a free point and still get the opportunity to select another square to make a match. A quick note here. If you’ve signed up for the Old Testament handout subscription, a copy of the game will be available to you there. Just remember, that you will need to have the actual PowerPoint program in order to make it work.

SEARCH

So let’s go through and I’ll show you the answers and the tiles that match.

(1) Nahum 1:7—(9) The Lord will be a “stronghold” in times of trouble

(15)Nahum 1:13—(11) Christ will break the yoke of our enemies from off of us

(18) Nahum 1:15—(16) There is good news for the future! There will be peace on earth

(3)Zephaniah 3:9—(13) Everyone’s language will be purified

(14) Zephaniah 3:13—(2) There will be no iniquity, lying, or fear

(4) Zephaniah 3:14—(19) The righteous will sing and rejoice with all their hearts

(8) Zephaniah 3:15—(6) The righteous will not see evil anymore

(17) Zephaniah 3:17—(5) Christ will be with the righteous and JOIN them in singing and rejoicing

(12) Zephaniah 3:19—(7) Praise and fame in every land instead of affliction

And then you have the two free points behind the remaining tiles.

TRUTH

Now the truth I feel these books and these verses teach us: Even though the righteous may face oppression, evil, and persecution, when Christ returns, all will be well, and all oppression shall cease.

LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES

Which of the promises on that list is your favorite and why?

COMMENTARY

And maybe just some short commentary on some of those ideas.

Nahum 1:7 reminds us that God can be our strength in times of trouble. He’s a fortress, or stronghold, that can help us to endure to the end. If we continually seek to stand in holy places, we will not be moved.

Nahum 1:13 reminds us that the yokes that the world places on us will one day be broken off. We won’t have to carry the yoke of persecution, ridicule, or harassment anymore. The burdens of this life will be lifted from our shoulders, and we will raise our heads high in rest and glory.

I like the promise of purified language in Zephaniah 3:9. We live in a world of all kinds of corrupt communication. Swearing, lying, mockery, blasphemy, criticism, verbal abuse, negativity, blame. It’s nice to know that one day our language will be pure, and we won’t have to subject our ears or souls any more to that kind of thing.

I love the idea that we see coming from Zephaniah 3:14 and 17 together. The singing and rejoicing that occur at the Second Coming of Christ. It comes from both directions. It’s not just the people of the earth that are rejoicing and happy, but it comes from above as well. This event brings joy and singing from God and heaven as well. At some future date, it’s nice to know that there will be this divine duet performed, and hopefully, we will be a part of that chorus.

And then, overall, how can you not love the promise in Zephaniah 3:15 “thou shalt not see evil any more”. Oh I just can’t wait for the day when that promise is fulfilled.

CONCLUSION

And so we come full circle here with all three of these books. Going back to Habakkuk’s initial question on how the Lord can allow so much negativity, tyranny, and iniquity on this earth. The promise of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah is that all these things will end someday. The destiny of this earth is a joyful one. Mortality has a happy ending. Justice will triumph, all evil will cease, and the righteous will rejoice. Pain and opposition are temporary. That we will live by faith in that glorious outcome and rehearse for that divine duet we will one day sing is my hope and prayer for all.